Media conglomerate Viacom hasn’t been too happy with Google’s YouTube online video service, asking the service to remove thousands of clips from Viacom programming (including bits of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, which have been popular on the YouTube). It appeared the two organizations had reached a détente of sorts in October 2006, but just a couple weeks ago Viacom again went to YouTube and demanded it remove all Viacom content from the service. And let’s not forget that, in addition to Comedy Central, Viacom also controls content from MTV, Nickelodeon, VH!, CMT, Spike TV, and BET—the total number of clips involved in the takedown demand was widely reported to total near 100,000. And Viacom made its displeasure clear in a statement: “It has become clear that YouTube is unwilling to come to a fair market agreement that would make Viacom content available to YouTube users. YouTube and Google retain all of the revenue generated from this practice, without extending fair compensation to the people who have expended all of the effort and cost to create it.”
Digital Trends
