Tuesday, October 10, 2006

GoogleTube and YouGoog ?

Google has bought YouTube. Google to acquire YouTube in $1.65 billion deal
by Wolfgang Gruener and Mark Raby.

A couple of days ago, Eric Bangeman foreshadowed that: money = copyright litigation = collapse. Will this come to pass?

Not necessarily, according to Gruener and Raby:

"Google's acquisition of YouTube could also possibly help the latter with its recent legal headaches. Because of pressure from copyright holders like NBC and Universal Music Group, whose content was illegally being posted on YouTube, the San Bruno, Calif.-based site was forced to initiate a project that would systematically check for and prevent copyrighted videos.

This big decision comes at a time when content companies have embraced YouTube, most likely because of the Google acquisition murmurs. Just today, Sony BMG, CBS, and once-nemesis Universal Music Group, all announced partnerships with YouTube. Under the music company deals, users have permission to use Sony and Universal music in their own videos. The CBS partnership will give the network station its own "channel" on YouTube."

There are a few gems on YouTube, along with a lot of dross (eg. hundreds of "funny" videos where one 16 year old pretends to take a photo of a group, but is really videoing them [chortle!!] ), so I hope the merger manages to preserve its chaotic soul.

No comments: