About 6 or 7 years ago, everyday when I was at work, I would goto CNN.com for my news. I went to the home page at least six times a day and I didn't really go anywhere else.

Now I go there only on the rarest of occasions, maybe a couple of times per month.

I have so many places to go to get personalized, relevant and diverse news along with so much smart commentary, I can count on "being alerted" if something really big is happening. I don't need any supplement from CNN.

During a national or worldwide breaking news story, however, I tend to forget about my niche sources for a moment and go right to CNN. That's where I expect helicopters, vans, satellite equipment and ground crews to be there to bring it to me live, first.

One wouldn't go to Rocketboom to find out about the London Bombings for example on that day. The expectation might be that we have commentary or that we find some video or perspective after the fact but if you wanted to really see what was going on, you would likely turn right to a major news network like CNN.

On the other hand, lets say for example the time is now, after the fact. If you wanted to see some video on the London Bombings today, CNN would not be the likely destination.

YouTube is the most likely destination.

Or, say, you noticed a weblog post about Kramer from Seinfeld who was recorded and shown to be racist. If you wanted to see this, just knowing that a video existed, where would you go first? Not to CNN.

The destination is YouTube.

If it's out there, it's most likely on YouTube - It's the first place I go to SEARCH.

YouTube fills the role of that place to get prerecorded video in the same way CNN fills the role of live news.

Currently, no other site comes close to enough critical mass needed to serve the value of this entry point.

The TV guide of the future is no longer TVGuide. iTunes, Tivo, Network2 and Blip are all examples of entry points that are more progressive and important. They are places to discover and find what you are looking for.

The value to these sites is not in the ownership of content. None of the above mentioned sites own any content. They compete for ownership of the entry point.

Google knows the value of this entry point really well, proven again by their acquisition of YouTube.