BBC signs YouTube deal!

In case anyone hasn't heard of this yet, I thought that I should blog about it. Yesterday, the BBC has signed a broadcasting deal with YouTube. The Beebs is offering three branded channels on the site. It is a sign of a very open minded Beebs, which understands how it's viewers want content to be delivered through new media.

The first channel, "BBC Worldwide," will show clips from hit BBC programmes like "Top Gear, Sooks" and nature documentaries by David Attenborough. The second channel, "BBC," will show trailers and short features such as video diaries and blogs from overseas reporters. The third channel, "BBC News," will show up to 30 news snippets a day from the BBC international news channel.

This deal has been hailed as a win-win situation for all involved. "The BBC's director general, Mark Thompson, said the broadcaster hoped to drive extra traffic to its own Web site and bring in commercial revenue to supplement the license fee levied on taxpayers." and " The deal is also well-timed for YouTube and may ease the company's prickly relationship with large entertainment companies that allege that YouTube violates their copyright."

On a further note, "Ashley Highfield, director of future media and technology at the BBC, said the corporation would not hunt down all BBC-copyrighted clips already uploaded by YouTube members, but would reserve the right to swap poor- quality clips with the real thing, or to have content removed that had been edited or altered in a way that would damage the BBC brand."

However, some of the content will not be available to viewers from the UK because of advertising issues. The Beebs is funded by public money. Hence, collecting fees through advertising is a thorny issue with the British public. But the international BBC channels will be available via YouTube. So, we should all be able to catch the *real* "Top Gear" on YouTube soon.