POST: VEVO BRINGING IN CNN VET AS CHAIRMAN

The New York Post says Vevo is adding management with broadcast chops to enhance its status as a freestanding content destination. To that end it is bringing in Turner veteran Phil Kent, who rode herd on CNN, as Chairman, the Post's Claire Atkinson reports. Vevo has not yet confirmed the story.

Vevo has been developing an array of original programming elements; with the majors' deals with YouTube up for renewal (or not, given the frequently contentious state of play between rights holders and Google's online video giant), Vevo appears to be attempting to untether itself from YouTube.

Vevo named Erik Huggers its president and CEO in April. Equity stakeholders in the company include UMG, Sony and Abu Dhabi Media Group; Google also has an ownership stake. Huggers is said to be attempting to bring WMG (which distributes its videos through YouTube) into the fold as well.

Google's hardball tactics on streaming-ad revenue and outright refusal to police piracy—not to mention growing discontent from rights holders about "freemium" in general, of which YouTube is king—have sown the seeds of a possible rift.

Should the majors' YouTube deals lapse, Vevo would have the biggest official platform for music videos, and by adding more original content (which Kent would presumably help generate) it could ostensibly be positioned to set up a subscription business a la Netflix.