Monday, October 13, 2008

YouTube TV Shows

It great to be able to go out knowing you can always watch that TV or radio show you missed via the Internet.

Now YouTube has started to run full-length TV shows from CBS's archive and is now talking to other networks to sign similar deals. A mix of shows, including "Star Trek," and "Beverly Hills 90210," will now be available in full-length episodes and will have a full-length badge to distinguish them from shorter clips.

Its competition will be Hulu, owned by News Corp and General Electric's NBC Universal. However the size of YouTube’s audience with its 330 million users in August compared to Hulu’s 3.3 million poses some interesting opportunities for Google to cash in on adverting revenues. Apparently CBS will sell the advertisements around the shows with both companies sharing the revenue.

The increased convergence of broadcasting and the Internet is yet another example of the broadband revolution and of the movement towards online. Music, film, games, audio and books just make more sense online and away from this ‘must own ‘ mentality from poor or no bandwidth.

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