Comments on: YouTube Should Call Viacom’s Bluff

By: Wal-Mart Jumps Into Video Downloads » D’ Technology Weblog — Technology, Blogging, Gadgets, Fashion, Life Style.

Wed, 07 Feb 2007 00:00:57 +0000

[…] While a crippled movie-download service (only available for Windows PCs, and you can’t burn a copy that works in your DVD player) might have limited appeal, the companion TV-show downloads could take off rapidly. According to USA Today, YouTube hater Viacom will have its shows ready to go for the low Wal-Mart price of $1.96 per episode, available the day after broadcast. […]

By: NewTeeVee » Wal-Mart Jumps Into Video Downloads

NewTeeVee » Wal-Mart Jumps Into Video Downloads — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 08:34:04 +0000

By: steve

steve — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 21:41:58 +0000

@Chris D

When I said the Verizon brand, I meant brands as in the ones you've listed.

And by heavy handed, I was referring to all of the legit content that got caught in the DMCA requests. (see my post linked to above)

By: Chris D

Chris D — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 21:03:40 +0000

@Steve, %99.9 of the population have no idea who Viacom is - they only know it's separate brands (which I was suprised to hear included powerhouses such as Paramount Pictures and SKG Studios [Spielberg, Katzen, Geffen], I thought Viacom was purely cable TV). So how are they damaging the Viacom brand if no one knows that name.

How is "take down our content per the DCMA regulations" considered heavy-handed? Sounds perfectly reasonable to me. You may disagree on the promotional benefit, but there's no way one can argue that Viacom is being heavy handed.

By: The 463: Inside Tech Policy

The 463: Inside Tech Policy — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 20:32:20 +0000

The Viacom Effect: What About Sarah Silverman?…

The biggest tech policy news of recent days has been the entirely predictable move by Viacom to order more than 100,000 videos off of YouTube that allegedly contain Viacom-copyrighted content. Of course, most everyone is suggesting that the demand is…

By: steve

steve — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 20:00:17 +0000

Viacom has the right to not have their stuff on YouTube -- and I agree, Google will call their bluff. It's very willing to sit this one out, because others are onboard, and the DMCA allows them to continue business as usual.

Additionally, Viacom is damaging their brand, with heavy-handed tactics and by removing their content.

See my post: Viacom's sledgehammer cracks User-Generated Content too

By: Chris D

Chris D — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 19:58:55 +0000

I don't know what you mean by "call their bluff". They have to take down the content, pure and simple. I'd say it's really Viacom calling YouTube's bluff here: "The promotional value that you (YouTube) claim here is less than we think our content is worth"

YouTube is going to be under pressure here. If there is a general sense of unease among major advertisers that YouTube is still not "ready-for-prime-time" due to all of this legal threats, they are likely going to withhold advertising interest in the near term until thing settle down.

YouTube's mission for 1st half '07 is to stablize the "platform" businesswise through licensing to allow for monetization. That's going to be a big challange until all of this goes away. Plus with Japan and Europe all in a huff, that's going to be the next big hurdle coming up.

By: GigaOM » YouTube, call Viacom’s bluff

GigaOM » YouTube, call Viacom’s bluff — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 19:44:43 +0000

[…] should call old media including Viacom’s bluff. See what happens! No comments Share/Send Sphere Topic: Reporter’s Log Tags: YouTube,Viacom […]