The concept of user-generated content is apparently expanding… to include major brands, which are beginning to produce their own online content.

Anheuser-Busch is launching an in-house film and TV production company charged with making humorous shorts and sitcom-like programs for the internet and cell phones, reports Ad Age. The ambitious effort could eventually branch out into full-length feature films. The country’s largest brewer is moving its top creative executive, Jim Schumacher, out of the advertising department and into the new entertainment production group.

Also, Michael Gianino, senior director of branded entertainment, is moving to a unit devoted to producing online content. He previously worked on A-B’s product-placement deal for New Line Cinema’s “Wedding Crashers.”

The Warner Brothers Studio 2.0 unit, which creates short-form broadband and mobile content for marketers, has struck a deal with Anheuser-Busch to create a show for the upcoming online entertainment network Bud.tv.

The deal with Studio 2.0 will involve the creation of an internet show called Hardly News, which will be a hybrid of comedy, news and games designed to attract consumers that want to test their current-events and pop-culture smarts Ad Age reports.

The deal comes as A-B is looking to flesh out content for Bud.tv, which is set to launch after the Super Bowl, . Bud.tv will be a 24-hour online network with seven channels featuring satirical newscasts, stand-up comedy, filmmaking contests and other entertainment items.

Also included will be sitcom-style shows, A-B ads created by consumers and links to the marketer’s many sports sponsorships.

The attorneys general of 21 states lashed out at Bud.tv’s age verification method, claiming it does little to keep minors from accessing the site, Ad Age reports. In a sharply worded letter to Anheuser-Busch, the Attorneys General voiced their displeasure over what they say are lax age-verification measures at Bud.tv’s site. “We fail to see how your use of age verification on the Bud.tv site is a genuine attempt to keep youth from accessing the site’s content,” they wrote.

The attorneys general also expressed concern about the ability of users to download content from the site: “If the programming on your site can be downloaded and shared freely…what’s the purpose of engaging any age verification at all?”

Although the letter does not mention legal action, the attorneys general could file suit against the brewery.

A-B VP of consumer affairs Francine Katz urged parents to monitor their children’s internet use. She said A-B’s efforts to keep underage users from watching Bud.tv were “extraordinary steps,” explaining that A-B undertook the verification process even though it resulted in thousands of adult users’ being discouraged from visiting the site.

Despite marketers’ desire to buy ads within online video, they are having a tough time expanding into the format, reports Advertising Age.

Interested buyers are reportedly saying limited inventory, specifically content created exclusively for the web, is one factor that’s holding them back. Also, the audience for web video is, to date, too fragmented to meet the needs of buyers looking for significant reach. The lack of a single model for the buying and accounting of video ads is also cited as a contributing factor.

The dollars for online video buying are expected to come from television budgets, but until the online audience expands some marketers appear unwilling to make that shift. Estimates have buyers spending just 10 percent of their TV budget on streaming video by 2010, with most of that money going toward professional content from mainstream media.

Bolt Media CEO Aaron Cohen says if independent producers are going to tap into serious advertising dollars, there needs to be effective syndication of content that can bring audience reach to niche videos.

Even so, the lack of a universal rating and measurement models continues to be a stumbling block to advertisers who need to justify their expenditures.