Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) has teamed up with Current TV to create a site where users can submit their own created videos. Sounds a lot like the existing Yahoo! Video or YouTube, right?

At first glance Yahoo! Current Network does seem just like another video sharing site. But it doesn't match exactly. First, Current TV is a cable and satellite channel venture the former Vice-President Al Gore launched with Joel Hyatt. It is a viewer created content TV or VC2 (VC squared). Second, Yahoo! Current Network will stream four channels dedicated to action sports, automotive, travel and buzz (the latest buzz around the world). Al Gore talks to Boing Boing about it here.

The site is fully functional at Yahoo! Current Network and the content is actually pretty good. This video well describes what Yahoo! Current is all about. And here are two more examples: from Yahoo! Current Action, Johnny Bell skating in Ohio and from Yahoo! Current Traveler, a Bono featured home video. You can check for yourselves.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) just launched Soapbox yesterday and YouTube and MySpace Video sites keep soaring past all the rest as the August usage released by Hitwise indicates. According to the August 2006 market share data for the most popular online video search sites, YouTube was first with 45.46% of visits, MySpace second with 22.99%, Google Video third at 10.25%, Yahoo! Video fourth with 6.06%, and MSN Video fifth at 5.92%. This venture by Yahoo! could position it as a unique, quality service rather than directly competing with the rest.

The financial terms weren't specified but Yahoo! said in its press release that Yahoo! Current Network will offer advertiser "the unique opportunity to reach a large, highly attractive audience of engaged, creative, media savvy young adults in a video rich environment." More, the release made a specific mention to working with advertisers and developing new ad formats.

This comes just as Yahoo! warned of a weakness in advertising revenue growth yesterday, causing management to lower its forecast revenue of Q3 and say it would probably come in the lower half of the range. Consequently Yahoo! Inc. shares plummeted nearly 13%, pulling other techs down with it.