Are YouTube and Viacom close to a deal?

Filed in archive Internet TV on November 2, 2006

I wonder how many pre-roll ads have to be served at Viacom's own Comedy Central web site before they collect $50 million?

Oh oh. It may be time for another large media company to feed at the easy-money trough that is called YouTube.


Regular readers may recall that we first noted the site of music empires getting paid $50 million as a consequence of the Google acquisition. Then, we were treated to some inside details of what might have been happening during the Google negotiation and how it lead to a 6-month get of jail free card with payouts for all.

But one fact just did not fit well. Namely, that Viacom was ordering that all its content be removed from YouTube and pronto.

In an email from Viacom sent to Red Herring magazine was this tasty tidbit:

"We want our audiences to be able to access our programming on every platform and we're interested in having it live on all forms of distribution in ways that protect out talented artists, our loyal customers and our passionate audiences."

Besides taking too many words to say such a simple thing, what else does that statement mean? Viacom wants its $50 million! Since readers of this blog always want proof, how about this: thousands and thousands of video clips from "The Daily Show" and the "Colbert Report" and other Viacom shows remain on YouTube.

I suspect that we will be reading of a deal [wink, wink] soon.