In a move that seems to run contrary to recent trends, YouTube has actually come to an agreement with a major content provider. The BBC announced on Friday that it has struck a deal with the popular video-sharing site that will see the UK based broadcasting company share in advertising revenue generated by YouTube traffic.

After highly publicized breakdowns in negotiations with CBS and Viacom, it looks like Google and YouTube have finally managed to court a suitor into the video-sharing fold, avoiding any potential copyright snares that might ensue with current BBC content on the site.

The BBC’s Tim Weber has more on the particulars of the agreement:

One of the BBC's two entertainment channels will be a "public service" proposition, featuring no advertising.

It will show clips like trailers and short features that add value - for example, video diaries of David Tennant showing viewers around the set of Dr Who or BBC correspondent Clive Myrie explaining how difficult it is to report from the streets of Baghdad.

The channel's main purpose is to popularise current programming and drive traffic back to the BBC's own website, and point the audience to the BBC's pages, where they can watch or download programmes in full, once the BBC Trust approves the corporation's catch-up television proposal, called iPlayer.

Two other channels will also be available on YouTube - BBC Worldwide and BBC News. Looking back to December, Yahoo entered into an agreement with ABC News that, by proxy, also allowed the company to distribute BBC News video content on its Yahoo News portal, as ABC News is the exclusive broadband content provider for BBC News in North America.

Well, at least it was the exclusive provider; now it seems the Brits are looking to expand the presence of BBC news to other platforms as well.

Tags: YouTube BBC Google Yahoo

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