Verizon Wireless Cuts Deal with YouTube
By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 11/28/2006 1:17:00 PM
Verizon Wireless inked a deal with Google’s YouTube video-sharing site to offer some of YouTube’s most popular videos to mobile subscribers.
Financial terms of the deal, announced Tuesday, weren’t disclosed. However, the wireless operator wrote into the contract that all YouTube-supplied content must have appropriate licensing arrangements.
Google closed its acquisition of YouTube -- a transaction worth $1.76 billion -- earlier this month.
YouTube's first deal with a wireless-service provider will be exclusive “for a limited time,” according to Verizon Wireless. Verizon Wireless spokesman Jeffrey Nelson declined to provide the time frame. Such exclusive content-licensing contracts typically range from 6-24 months.
Content provided under the deal will focus on so-called user-generated content, Nelson said, and it will be a “rotating, refreshed set of YouTube clips determined by YouTube.” The clips will be available on a separate YouTube channel on V CAST, Verizon Wireless' video service.
V CAST at any given time has up to 1,000 clips from content providers that include ESPN, Comedy Central and NBC Universal.
Nelson noted that YouTube content must meet Verizon Wireless standards, meaning that sexual and violent videos will be prohibited and that YouTube must ensure that the content has appropriate licensing arrangements.
Verizon Wireless’s V CAST VPak subscription costs $15 per month, or $3 for one-day access. Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications and the United Kingdom’s Vodafone Group.
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