New York - The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that a deal that Google's YouTube had been brokering with CBS, which would have put TV clips on the site in exchange for ad revenue, has fallen through.

At the time of Google's $1.65 billion acquisition of YouTube last year, the company announced negotiations and a number of deals with big-name content providers, including CBS.

The Journal reports that Google sought a five-year deal with CBS, and would have guaranteed $500 million in ad revenue. Although the larger pact did not materialize -- partly due to disagreements about the proposed deal's length -- the companies may still negotiate smaller agreements.

Google also offered Viacom a similar deal at the time of its YouTube acquisition, but those talks also eventually faltered, The Journal reported.

Viacom recently demanded that YouTube remove over 100,000 of its copyrighted clips, and yesterday announced a deal to license TV and film content to Joost, a start-up that streams TV to users' PCs.

Finally, following newly-appointed NBC Universal head Jeff Zucker's vocal criticism of YouTube's effort to filter copyrighted content, The Journal reports, NBC's general counsel sent YouTube a letter last week demanding the company take steps to prevent copyrighted content from being posted.

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/3y6j56 (Reuters)

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070221-8892.html

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