BBC and YouTube Deal in the Works?

Algis writes to tell us the BBC is in the process of striking a deal with YouTube to allow BBC content to be posted on YouTube. Previously the BBC has demanded quite a few video be removed from the Google-owned video sharing site. "The deal between YouTube and the BBC however, is more interesting still, since YouTube is a global service that is completely free to all users. Shows cannot be downloaded from YouTube. Instead, they're watched online on the YouTube website, or the YouTube player is embedded in other websites for no cost to the user. This is the nature of content sharing that has seen YouTube grow from a company making no money, to a company worth almost $2billion to Google, in less than two years. Quite what the BBC-YouTube deal will entail is anyone's guess. It is highly, highly unlikely to include full-length current BBC shows. What could be possible is the addition to YouTube of much older shows, such as classics like 'The Young Ones' or 'Faulty Towers', in an effort to boost the shows' exposure and increase DVD sales of these shows."

Can't download?

[RyanFenton]

http://keepvid.com/ [keepvid.com]

That, plus a set of video converters/transcoders will give you a poor-mans (well, with a computer) Tivo for BBC content with this new agreement.

Ryan Fenton

Fawlty towers....

[Anonymous Coward]

Not Faulty Towers, Basil will not be happy!!

"Shows cannot be downloaded from YouTube"

[shawnmchorse]

I use the VideoDownloader [mozilla.org] plugin for Firefox to download them, and then any of the various free FLV players to view them locally.

Says who?

[Larry Lightbulb]

It's a comment on a blog, with nothing about the source of the story.

Re:Danger Mouse?

[Anonymous Coward]

Danger Mouse wasn't shown on the BBC in Britain. It was on the ITV network (15-or-so geographically-based stations from Anglia to Yorkshire).

Spelling....

[cbiltcliffe]

such as classics like 'The Young Ones' or 'Faulty Towers',

That's Fawlty Towers, you insensitive clod from Soviet Russia!

Yeah, I know...it's a quote from the story....
What's journalism coming to?

Re:Shows cannot be downloaded from YouTube?

[Yvanhoe]

Mod it funny but consider it insightful. A lot of non-technical people believe that one can actually prevent a user from dowloading a file while allowing him to view it. We all know this is a shallow dream but this issue is fairly important for IP holders, they think they have a real control about how and when you can view the content.

Adam Buxton

[Don_dumb]

And here is a sometime beeb personality with his own Youtube presence, some of his clips are taken from BBC shows he was in (like Time Trumpet) http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=AdamBuxton [youtube.com]

See what happens when you don't have advertisers and shareholders to answer to?

The BBC do have 'shareholders' kind of, the BBC Trust http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/ [bbc.co.uk] and to a certain extent the government, who are in charge of the charter renewal (and how much money the beeb gets). Also don't forget that the Daily Mail think they should be shareholders. In my view we should do the opposite of whatever they want.

Re:Danger Mouse?

[MrCopilot]

Cooor Chief! ,

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-367154178 4982515877&q=danger+mouse+-youtube [google.com]

As pointed out elsewhere not a BBC Show. DM was one of my favorite shows as a kid, thanks for bringing it up again so I can show my daughter.

Re:TV Licencing

[zakezuke]

They don't produce as much as they used to (and a lot of what they commission, they don't own, unlike years past), and a lot of it is still made with ratings pressure (as that's the main way they can show "value for the fee payer") Look at all the main BBC programmes - they all have equivalents on commercial TV. Even the arts and documentary programmes have commercial equivalents. There is very, very little that the BBC does that isn't being done by the commercial broadcasters and what little there is does not justify the fee.

rome [bbc.co.uk] a joint HBO/BBC production AFAIK would seem to be a program that is worth the fee. Doctor Who always worth the fee, though Torchwood was rather soso. "The Office" funny as hell.

I give PBS 10 a month, or an extra 10 if the other station carries something I like. I do pay to watch rome presently on hbo.