Viacom Demands YouTube Yank 100,000 Clips

[Hurmoth]

Viacom Inc., parent company of popular television networks such as Comedy Central and MTV, has demanded that Google Inc.'s online video service YouTube yank all of its video clips after the two media giants failed to reach an agreement.

About 100,000 video clips from Viacom-owned properties are part of the request.

YouTube, a site where users post videos for other viewers to watch for free, is one of the recent darlings of the Web industry. In October, Internet search king Google bought the viral video hub for $1.65 billion.

Viacom said its pirated programs on YouTube generate about 1.2 billion video streams, based on a study from an outside consultant.

According to the YouTube site, users download over 70 million video clips a day, though in the past the video provider has said that views have exceeded 100 million per day.

YouTube's services have not been without controversy. Many companies have raised concerns over copyright infringements as television clips and other legally protected media have made their way onto the site. Before Google's purchase, some critics said that the legal liability of YouTube and its potential copyright infringements made it a poor investment.

The fiery media billionaire, Mark Cuban, even went so far as to say anyone who wanted to buy YouTube was a "moron."

Nevertheless, major media companies and their entities, such as CBS Corp. (CBS) and Universal Music Group struck distribution agreements with YouTube prior to its union with Google.

As of midday on Friday, a search for "MTV" on YouTube still yielded over 50,000 results, with clips from such shows as "MTV Cribs" and "True Life."

News Source: FOXNews.com

[xpgeek]

As I said about this on another blog;

I?ve never really understood the big deal about this. I get that the networks are ****ed that someone else is making advertising revenue off of their content, but with the exception of ComedyCentral.com, its not like the networks are making the content available themselves for people to see.

Like NBC gets Saturday Night Live clips taken down from YouTube almost immediately all the time, and I ask, is there another way for me to see this clip? Besides me waiting ten years for NBC to put out a ?best of? dvd set?

There needs to be some changes to the copyright laws in this country, for movies too. If ask me, if a network and or studio is not actually selling the content, making the tv show / movie available to be obtained by the public, then it shouldn?t be illegal to steal it. It should be ok to download it / watch it online, because there is no other way to see it, and they are not really losing money because of it, because they?re not selling it or making it available themselves, so even the advertising revenue is money they weren?t going to make for themselves anyway.

And the biggest thing the networks just can?t get through their heads is, seeing so many great and funny clips from a show does not make me actually watch the show on tv less, it makes me watch it more.

Unfortunately there is still quite a few full episodes of tv shows and even some movies floating around on YouTube.

Like when Fox just sued to get the name of the guy that uploaded the entire first 2 episodes or something of 24 to YouTube. And I just want to grab the guy that did it and smack him, you damn moron, why did you upload that? Why would I want to watch it in a dozen 10 minute clips anyway when I can just bit torrent it?

All these idiots do by uploading content in its entirety like this, besides being able to brag to their friends for a few days how cool they are, is ruin it for everyone. 99% of other Youtube users are legitimately enjoying their selected short clips from shows, and then they have to go and upload the ENTIRE show to it, and make everyone that uses the site look like a complete pirate.

Its always the few that ruin it for the many.

When the story broke 2 weeks ago about Fox suing YouTube to get the name of the person that uploaded em, people were saying ohh YouTube better not give in, and I was saying I hope they do hand it over because the guys a jackass. YouTube is not the place for full episodes, bit torrent is, and hes not a copyright law radical geek that should be protected like the rest of us, hes a jackass that makes us all look bad.

[AngryPets]

If [you] ask me, if a network and or studio is not actually selling the content, making the tv show / movie available to be obtained by the public, then it shouldn?t be illegal to steal it. It should be ok to download it / watch it online, because there is no other way to see it, and they are not really losing money because of it, because they?re not selling it or making it available themselves, so even the advertising revenue is money they weren?t going to make for themselves anyway.

Uh yeah, that makes PERFECT sense. And if you're not drinking that Coke in your fridge, I can just help myself. Or... if you're not driving your car, I should be able to take it for a spin. And hell, if you're not using that $20 bill in your wallet, you might as well give it to me - because I should have access to anything of yours I want, even if I don't agree to your terms about how your possessions should be used.

Media companies suck, mostly because their logic is infantile - that, and they're thieves (from artists). But that doesn't give people permission or the RIGHT to steal from them.

Cuz, frankly, you're logic/reasoning is massively flawed (and infantile) and it's obvious that you've been thieving content for so long that you can't see straight - but that still doesn't give me the right to take your PS3... just because you're not using it.