Brightcove, a Cambridge, Massachusetts start-up which provides video delivery services to major media companies, said on Sunday it is launching a network to enable video producers launch their own Internet video channels at no cost and generate sales via advertising or video download sales.

The online video distribution market has heated up since earlier this month when Web search leader Google Inc. paid $1.65 billion for online video sharing site YouTube Inc.

With consumers growing use of high-speed Internet access, online video watching has taken off, according to Web audience measurement company comScore. YouTube users watch 100 million videos a day and face a host of competitors large and small.

Brightcove, which provides underlying distribution for videos on Web sites of major media companies including the Wall Street Journal, Warner Music Group and Reuters Group Plc, is betting that it can fuel demand for such big media customers by expanding the supply of Web sites running videos supplied by Brightcove.

Specifically, Brightcove is launching a syndication service enabling distribution on affiliated Web sites. This distribution will be advertising supported, with revenues split with the Web site affiliates.

“As the mainstream consumer moves into watching video on the Internet it will evolve from short humorous clips into programming that’s meaningful to a broad cross-section of mainstream individuals, Brightcove CEO Jeremy Allaire said.

Privately-held Brightcove, which has backing from Time Warner Inc., Hearst Corp. and IAC/InterActiveCorp is also partnering with Time Warner Internet unit AOL to distribute paid video downloads through AOL Video.

“When I’ve talked to content owners they’ve begun to realize that the best thing for them is to get their video available on any site that might be useful,” said Josh Bernoff analyst at Forrester Research.

Bernoff said that this is why the syndication model is fast becoming popular. “A set of tools that helps you to license from one site to appear on another and for everyone to get paid from the revenue that’s generated from that is pretty well-suited to the needs of the market right now.”

The company is also transforming its Web site at http://www.brightcove.com into a consumer site with much of the professional video it distributes for its network of media partners.

Online video has to date been a largely free service created by amateurs which allows users to share their personal clips with millions of people around the world by simply uploading to sites like YouTube.

But several Web companies are working on ways to make it lucrative for both individuals and media companies to upload professionally created video to build bigger audiences.

Metacafe, a two-year old online video sharing site based in Palo Alto, California, on Monday is set to unveil its “Producer Rewards” plan after a month-long test. The new scheme offers to pay makers of the most popular videos $100 for each 20,000 views they attract.

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