Viacom, the parent company of MTV and Comedy Central, sued Google (which recently acquired YouTube) in federal court today, citing “massive intentional copyright infringement.”
Because the two parties have failed to arrive at some sort of licensing agreement, Viacom has decided to go to court. Funny, because YouTube is doing what cable networks fail to do on a daily basis: provide programming that people actually want to watch.
From a legal standpoint, Viacom certainly has a case. And while this is nothing that YouTube hasn't faced before, this lawsuit has serious implications for those of us who love:
A) Music Videos
B) Re-runs of Chappelle's show (Sorry, I don’t own the DVDs)
During the last fifteen years, MTV and VH-1 have come depressing parodies of themselves. Thanks to the success of The Real World and Behind The Music, Viacom executives decided to gradually shift away from exclusively music based programming. As a result, both networks hold the dubious honor of broadcasting some of the most inane, pointless and degrading shit in the history of television. Today's youngsters know MTV as the home of white-washed teen dramas and VH-1 as a dumping ground for washed up celebrities.
Oh, and Comedy Central? Well I dunno about you, but I'm not really a fan of seeing the same re-runs of Mind of Mencia four times in same week.
Shit, I almost forgot BET, which was bought by Viacom. Well, at least they show videos. My only gripe is that they cancelled BET Uncut. Then again, after you see Nelly swipe a credit card down the crack of a woman's ass, can you really take hip hop seriously?
Viacom said today that nearly 160,000 clips of its programming have been available on YouTube and that they had been viewed more than 1.5 billion times
I’m going to be slightly unprofessional for a minute and take this time to say “Fuck Viacom.” Save for BET and VH-1 Classic (which you have to special order from the cable company) none of their networks show music videos anymore. Where the hell else am I gonna be able to watch Eddy Grant’s surreal protest video for “Electric Avenue”??????
Source: New York Times, 13th March 2007
Eddy Grant “Electric Avenue”
E40 "Tell me When to Go"
When Ghostriding the Whip Goes HORRRRRIBLY WRONG
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3 comments:
Colonel, I have to agree with you when you say "Fuck Viacom."
that nelly video is dope.
Ever since the boondocks had MLK come back from the grave and make BETs president apologize for creating the channel I've had trouble flipping to it.
Fuck Viacom, Clear Channel and all those skyscrapers,
Sawyer J
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