It’s no more “Lazy Sundays” for YouTube. In October, a year after successfully negotiating a distribution agreement with NBC, the network yanked its content—more than a hundred videos, including the popular Saturday Night Live rap spoof, “Lazy Sundays”—from the Google-owned site. Now NBC has its online videos exclusively on Hulu, a new joint venture with News Corp.

In other words, what NBC wants is MeTube.

It’s not the only broadcast company that’s left YouTube to create its own sandbox over the past year: Viacom is giving exclusive content to newcomer Joost, and AOL-Time Warner is backing Veoh, Several major companies and some smaller upstarts are hoping to make YouTube as irrelevant as Facebook made Friendster—or at least carve out a solid niche in online video.

They may yet have a chance too. According to the most recent numbers from comScore, Google Sites (which includes YouTube) accounted for more than 28 percent of online video views in September—far from a lock on the market. Though there’s still a bit of catch-up to do: Fox Interactive Media, encompassing sites like AmericanIdol.com and FoxSports.com, came in a distant second with just over 4 percent. Here, a look at the upstarts getting into the online videogame.

HULU
NBC and Fox, longtime squabblers with YouTube, wanted more control over their online content. In 2007 they created Hulu, which launched in October in beta form. It is expected to officially go live by year-end.
What It Carries: Full-length current shows from NBC and Fox (including The Office and Heroes) as well as from MGM and Sony Pictures Television. The final version will have select movies from 20th Century Fox and popular older television series.
Major Success Factor: Advertising commitments from General Motors and other major companies bode well for the site.

VEOH
Tech entrepreneur Dmitry Shapiro started Veoh in 2004. Users download the software onto their computers and save shows a la TiVo—except they don’t have to wait for the shows to air on television first.  
What It Carries: Full-length shows from CBS, the CW, Turner Classic Movies, and other AOL-Time Warner networks as well as movies from Lions Gates Films, and original Veoh shows. Five-minute previews let you sample the selection.
Major Success Factors: The download requirement may not appeal to a generation used to click-and-play. And a new lawsuit by Universal Music for copyright infringement could be enough to take Veoh off the air.
 
IFILM
One of the oldest YouTube competitors, iFilm was started by a private independent filmmaker in 1997. MTV Networks bought it in 2005 for $49 million. At the time, iFilm was delivering more than 30 million streams per month.
What It Carries: iFilm has become the online home of MTV’s Spike TV channel; shows like Manswers and Hooters Swimsuit Pageant have crowded out the more highbrow content iFilm used to carry (trailers, shorts, and movies including Theo van Gogh’s Submission).
Major Success Factor: iFilm has a well-defined demographic—18-to-34-year-old men—from the cable channel.