After making a $65 million purchase of Grouper, Sony (NYSE: SNE) is making a business strategy shift reminiscent of the dot-com era. When Sony purchased Grouper it was a user-generated video website. I guess the fact that the website was too little, too late in a saturated market finally dawned on the executives over at Sony because Grouper is now Crackle - an "online talent agency."

According to the AP report, the creators of top-rated videos on the website will be given $2,000-$20,000 in funding to help the creators make new episodes or pitch film ideas to Colombia Pictures. Video creators also have the chance to pitch show ideas to Sony's Television unit.

While this move does seem to make strategic sense (well, any move out of the over-dominated user-generated online video space is a good one), the news is still amusing - primarily because it's pretty funny that Sony spent $65 million on a business last year (and probably more funding that business during this year) only to be completely redirected shortly after. But give them a break, they are "creating pathways to Hollywood and fame."

Thanks for the laughs, Sony.

It's been very tough for Sony Corp. (NYSE:SNE): a recall of laptop batteries, as well as delays in the launch of the PlayStation 3.

In fact, despite its rich history as a leader in digital technologies, Sony has been a laggard in the revolution in online video. So this year, back n August, the company purchased a video site, Grouper. Actually, in light of Google, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:GOOG) deal for YouTube, the purchase was fairly cheap – only $65 million.

It does look like a smart move. For example, Sony is developing a new channel, "Screen Bites." Basically, the company is leveraging Sony's valuable film library.

Now, the cool thing is that users can take these clips and do mash-ups. Users can also put the clips on their own web pages on MySpace or blogs.

Business model? Well, the hope is that users will eventually start buying the full version of the content. This is a bit of a stretch, but if Grouper can get a ton of traffic, the strategy can work.

And, here's one of the copyrighted videos, you're going to like, I promise:

While News Corp and Viacom have been plunking down big bucks for Internet properties, Sony is only now getting into the act. Although, it is being much more thrifty.

Sony says it will pay $65 million for Grouper Networks, a popular video sharing site.

Let's face it, Sony has tried to build its own Internet properties, but it has been mostly a bust – despite the company's top-notch technology and breadth of content assets.

The good news is that it looks like Sony will take a hands-off-approach to Grouper. Usually, Sony tries to smother its acquisitions with huge doses of synergy – often killing the customer base. For a site like Grouper, which relies on a community, it is imperative that it has lots of discretion and not be overtly commercial. In fact, this has been extremely helpful in the case of MySpace.

Besides, Grouper has an experienced founder, Josh Felser. He was the cofounder of Spinner.com, which he sold to AOL in the late 1990s.

But according to stats by Hitwise, Grouper is a small player, with less than 1% of market share of the video sharing space. Of course, the dominant player is YouTube, with about 43%.

So, Sony has a long way to go. But, at least it is starting to move out of the "pause" mode.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, such as the Complete M&A Handbook and operates InvestorOffering.com.