CBS in basketball deal with YouTube
CBS Corp. has reached a deal with YouTube to show highlights, press conferences and other content from the NCAA basketball tournament on the video-sharing site, the broadcaster said Thursday.
Unlike much of the video on YouTube, however, the CBS basketball clips will be sponsored by advertising from General Motors Corp.'s Pontiac.
The advertising deal, terms of which were not released, is part of a broader CBS strategy to receive payment for its content and shows, something it has become increasingly vocal about in recent weeks.
The CBS agreement with Google Inc.'s YouTube is also notable in light of the $1 billion lawsuit filed against the video-sharing site this week.
The suit by Viacom Inc. accuses Google and YouTube of "massive intentional copyright infringement." Up until a year ago, CBS and Viacom were part of the same company.
CBS Interactive President Quincy Smith declined to comment on the Viacom lawsuit.
Smith also declined to speak about CBS' discussions for a broader distribution and advertising deal with Google and YouTube. Recent press reports have said those discussions have stalled.
But Smith, in an interview, said the CBS deal with YouTube for the NCAA basketball content fits its strategy of monetizing its shows and broadcast material.
"From our perspective, we absolutely want to experiment and make sure we do things with as many online platforms as we can, but we need to get paid for our content," he said. "Not only do we need to get paid for our content, we need to learn about our community."
He added that a "naive move" would have been for CBS to bypass YouTube and build its own site "and have three people show up to enjoy some incredibly great content."
Instead, CBS and Pontiac reached the deal with YouTube under which game clips will be uploaded to the site in nearly real time. Users will be able to comment on the clips, rate them, recommend them and post their own video responses.
The YouTube channel will also include links to other CBS and NCAA sites.
While Smith did not disclose terms of the deal, he said: "All our partners get everything out of this deal."
He also said a record number of users has registered to watch the full basketball games live online through the CBS Webcast (http://www.ncaasports.com/mmod). Last year, CBS' online broadcasts marked one of the biggest Internet video events.
"We found a parade and jumped in front of it," Smith said. (REUTERS)
