Search battle heads to video

As millions of broadband subscribers who missed a wardrobe-malfunction moment on TV can attest, the internet can be a convenient resource for finding much-talked-about events on video.

Whether it's Janet Jackson's Super Bowl breast exposure or The Daily Show host Jon Stewart's explosive appearance on a political talk show, video clips of high-profile moments have sent millions of net users scrambling to search engines for footage.

But until recently, internet users who don't patronize peer-to-peer sites had few options for tracking down video content outside of entering a query in a standard search box.

Large net portals and a handful of smaller sites are looking to change that. In recent weeks, Yahoo, Google and MSN have each rolled out services designed to make it easier to upload or locate video online. The portals' rollouts come as a handful of startups and independent film sites are creating tools to make putting video online nearly as simple as publishing text.

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