Ice Cube's Web Network

As I've said many times before, I don't know enough about rap (except that the Advanced embrace it) to judge whether its artists are Advanced, but Ice Cube seems like he definitely has the qualifications. And now, according to USA Today, he's got a Web network:

Cube and his partner DJ Pooh, a record producer and screenwriter who also is a self-described techie, are the latest entertainers to launch a new website showcasing all sorts of videos, original to music to user-generated.

But Cube and Pooh aren't just looking to promote their own work. They have loftier ambitions: to create a TV-style network with multiple channels and high-quality video that can support everything from short videos to full-length movies.

UVNTV (short for U View Network Television, at uvntv.com), still in rollout mode, now features about a dozen channels, run both by large companies and individual artists. Each channel will be screened for quality but will run its own programming. For example, Snoop Dogg's Snoopadelic channel features his rap videos; Nextreme TV shows clips of extreme sports such as snowboarding jumps.

All videos are shown in a new Microsoft-developed format called Silverlight that promises definition high enough to be played on big screens. Shows can be viewed by time or on demand. And, like most websites launching these days, UVNTV includes community-building features along the lines of MySpace.

....

"We figured we needed to think about how could we still be part of entertainment in this future that's coming out at full speed," says Cube, whose new movie, First Sunday, opens this weekend. "We didn't just want to be providers of a product. We wanted to be a full-blown network. I think we're going to have programming that's way more interesting than what you can see on your daily television or even YouTube."

YouCube?