BBC Adds Content to YouTube, Won't Remove Existing User Clips

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 2, 2007 - 2:58pm.

London - The BBC announced on Friday that it has signed an agreement to offer clips of its programming on Google's YouTube video site.

The BBC's director of future media and technology, Ashley Highfield, also said the company won't seek to have existing BBC videos uploaded by users taken down, unless they tread on others' copyrights.

"We don't want to be overzealous, a lot of the material on YouTube is good promotional content for us," Highfield said, adding that the BBC might even offer to swap poor-quality user videos with actual footage.

The multi-year deal will see the BBC share advertising revenue with YouTube on three BBC-branded channels.

An ad-free "BBC" channel will offer clips and short features promoting BBC entertainment shows, with features like a video diary of David Tennant touring the set of "Dr Who," while "BBC Worldwide" will carry ads and feature three- to six-minute clips of BBC entertainment shows like "Top Gear" and "The Mighty Boosh."

Another ad-supported channel, "BBC News," will launch later this year and offer about 30 news clips per day.

The broadcaster said it doesn't plan to add full-length programs, considering the YouTube videos to be mainly a promotional vehicle.