Major media companies combine to hold off an online rival that won't play by the rules. I think we've watched this movie before.

In 1999, freaked out by the instant popularity of music download services such as Napster, the music industry decided to build its own. EMI, BMG, and, later, Sony Music — three of the top five record labels — teamed up with Real Networks to offer legal downloads, an alternative to the mainly pirated tracks swapped by Napster users. What happened? Musicnet, which offered only 100 downloads for the $10 per month it charged, won a place in PC World's list of the worst tech products of all time. It was sold off in 2005.

The alliance between News Corporation and NBC Universal, and Google's online rivals, looks superficially formidable. But, as the experience of Musicnet showed, the larger the number of decisionmakers, and the bigger their egos, the harder it will be for the new project to come together. No wonder that Google execs, according to Michael Arrington, have such an insulting nickname for their new rival: Clown Co.

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