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February 02, 2007
It would now appear that Google is not invulnerable to angry content holders regarding copyrighted material on its YouTube video property. Details are sketchy at the moment, but Reuters is reporting that Viacom, parent company of MTV and BET (to name a few), has demanded the immediate removal of over 100,000 video clips featuring content it owns from the YouTube network. An article at Search Engine Land alerted me to the Reuters story. Viacom says that the video clips on YouTube have generated 1.2 billion video streams. Apparently YouTube and Viacom were in the midst of trying to come to an agreement about copyrighted material being shared. That agreement obviously didn't work out. Can't really say I'm surprised. Google isn't going to be able to appease every content publisher out there. What do you think: Is this a sign of things to come or an isolated incident?
Comments:
4 Comments posted on "Viacom Wants Its MTV… Pulled From YouTube"
Viacom Signs Deal With Joost… And Possibly Gives Online Television a Boost on February 20th, 2007 at 10:27 am #
[…] Viacom was making the news a couple of weeks ago when it demanded that YouTube remove over 100,000 clips from the video sharing site that violated it's copyrights. Shortly after, we talked about destination and niche video sites. At the time, no one knew for sure what Viacom's plan for online video included. A Viacom-owned and operated video site? A branded niche site that included video? […]
What Happened to The YouTube Empire We Envisioned A Few Months Ago? on February 21st, 2007 at 1:49 pm #
[…] YouTube seems to be going through a tough stretch these days. The one-time darling of online media has been getting a lot of smack thrown its way lately. First, pre-roll ads irritated some. Then Viacom took its toys and went home. Shortly thereafter, NBC came out swinging and Rupert Murdoch questioned the viability of YouTube. […]
What Happened to the YouTube Empire We Were Promised? at Ara Rubyan’s “The No-Brainer Explainerâ€? on February 22nd, 2007 at 3:03 pm #
[…] Viacom Wants Its MTV… Pulled From YouTube […]
Viacom Sues Google For $1 Billion… I Guess They DO Have a Choice on March 13th, 2007 at 8:46 am #
[…] Viacom Sues Google For $1 Billion… I Guess They DO Have a Choice Posted by Matt / Derick on March 13th, 2007 Google CEO Eric Schmidt has been telling just about anyone that would listen about the power of YouTube. In fact, he's gone on record in a number of settings and forums saying that content publishers are going to have to put their content on YouTube and other content-sharing websites. If you ask Schmidt, he'll tell you that YouTube has become so popular that content producers have "no choice" but to work with Google. Well… I guess Viacom is proving that wrong. How about a billion dollar lawsuit? According to Bloomberg.com, Viacom has filed suit against Google and YouTube for "massive intentional" copyright violations. Viacom, who demanded YouTube pull its content a few weeks ago, is seeking over $1 billion in damages. Viacom alleges that more than 160,000 clips from its content have been viewed more than a million times at YouTube. When Viacom originally demanded YouTube remove its content, the video-sharing site said it complied. But a week later I was able to find Viacom-owned material on YouTube very easily. So I wondered how long it would be before these two were at it again. This is a case of Google trying to throw its weight around in markets that it doesn't have as much weight in. Sure… when it comes to search engines, Google has some clout. But Google is not a media company… it is not a content publisher. Google's clout probably means very little to the people who control all of that video content. Besides… who made Google "God" of all things online? I'm afraid their lofty attitude and ego-driven business practices are going to continue to get them in trouble. And if they're not careful, it could do serious, irreversible damage to their business. […] Post a comment
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