New content – and quite a lot of it – will soon become available on YouTube. The video-sharing site’s struck a revenue-sharing deal with Channel 4 that’ll give it access to full-length, recently broadcast shows along with about 3,000 hours of archive material.
This development represents a big breakthrough in several ways. First, there’s the obvious benefit to YouTube users, since all of the content will be free as usual. Also, a press release announced, “The strategic partnership marks the first time that a broadcaster anywhere in the world has made a comprehensive catch-up schedule available on YouTube . . .”
And considering that YouTube and Channel 4 have been in negotiations for around six months – and that their new deal will be effective for at least three years – they’re demonstrating a significant amount of trust in the arrangement.
There are a couple of details that’ll disappoint some people, however. The biggest one is perhaps that all of the content will only be available to people in the UK. Then – although this might solve the previous problem – YouTube execs probably aren’t thrilled that the deal is nonexclusive, meaning Channel 4 can negotiate with Hulu or any other company it likes.
Anyway, Patrick Walker, YouTube’s director of partnerships, said in a statement, “We know that the YouTube community is enthusiastic about full-length programming on the site, and we’ve been working hard to create the right environment for more broadcasters to make their content . . . . This partnership demonstrates our commitment to bringing an even greater range of content to YouTube and we look forward to other similar agreements to come.”
