YouTube has signed a deal to screen a package US TV shows on the file sharing website. However, the 40-year old I Spy may not be enough to compensate the site’s young audience from the upcoming loss of music videos and other content owned by the media giant Viacom.
4,000 hours of content will be added to YouTube following the agreement with the Digital Music Group. As part of the deal YouTube will use filtering technology that will identify content to which Digital Music controls the rights. The company will receive a percentage of ad revenue from the webpages around its content.
YouTube clips have previously been limited to a few minutes, although broadcasters have used the site to promote upcoming TV shows. (JC)
FYI – an interesting prospect for online programmes and/or alternative to distribution on Google