Jeff Lord of QubeTV, originally uploaded by Rob Bluey.

Last week I mentioned that Jeff Lord of QubeTV was joining us at the Heritage Foundation to talk to bloggers about QubeTV, his new video site that’s fashioned as a conservative alternative to YouTube. I never got a chance to write about it, and now Salena Zito of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has beat me to it. (She was kind enough to quote me in the story.)

Robert Bluey, director of the Center for Media & Public Policy at the Heritage Foundation, said many conservatives harbor ill feelings toward YouTube for its censorship of conservative columnist and blogger Michelle Malkin.

“With a site like QubeTV, which is run by conservatives for conservatives, that’s no longer an issue,” he said. “YouTube has become such a dominant force in the online video market that it’ll be hard for anyone to compete against it.”

However, he said, a niche-site such as QubeTV has the advantage of appealing to conservatives because it’s run by conservatives and features video produced by conservatives: “It’s a way for conservatives to advance the movement.”

Bluey said that, to be successful, QubeTV must incorporate all the easy-to-use tools on YouTube and aggressively market itself to conservative bloggers.

“It won’t be easy to compete against a giant like YouTube,” he warned, “but if enough conservatives embrace the idea, it could become the go-to place for conservative video on the Web.”

I don’t have a whole lot more to add, but I will say that alternative sites like QubeTV and Capitol Hill Broadcasting Network (Jeremy Jacobs of The Hill also spoke at Heritage last week) face a Goliath in YouTube. It won’t be easy for them to slay the giant, but they can co-exist by encouraging users to cross-post their videos, which is mutually beneficial to everyone involved.