Google in bid to stop legal threatto YouTube
By Joshua Chaffin and Aline van Duyn in New York and Richard,Waters in San Francisco
Published: November 3 2006 02:00 | Last updated: November 3 2006 02:00
Google is engaged in a frantic round of negotiations aimed at persuading media companies to supply content to YouTube, the video website it bought last month for $1.65bn, and ward off potentially crippling lawsuits.
Eric Schmidt, chief executive, and other managers have met CBS, Viacom, Time Warner, NBC Universal, News Corp and others, say people familiar with the talks, offering tens of millions of dollars in upfront payments for the right to broadcast their video content legally on YouTube.
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For Google, the talks could determine whether its investment in YouTube gives it a leading position in online video or results in a wave of lawsuits for copyright infringement.
YouTube, founded 18 months ago, serves 100m clips a day, making it the most popular video website, and leading to predictions that it and similar sites could become the main way of distributing television, films and other video to consumers. However, much of the material belongs to media companies and has been posted without their permission.
Some media executives speculate that if Google fails in its effort, YouTube could face the same fate as Napster, the file-sharing service that gained enormous popularity seven years ago before the music companies sued it for copyright infringement and put it out of business.
Recently Mr Schmidt told the Financial Times he wanted media companies to be partners and wanted them to combine Google's advertising platform with their content to reach a larger audience.
"So far people like that message; they are now trying to figure out what to do about it - should they, should they not, under what terms, and those sort of things," he said.
Media companies must balance the promotional and advertising potential of YouTube, which allows them to reach vast new audiences, against the need to protect material on which they have spent millions of dollars.
Many are also wary of helping Google achieve the dominance in distributing video online that it enjoys in the search advertising market.
"The fact is that in three to six months every media company's going to decide that their stuff gets taken down or that they get paid for it," a media executive said, likening the negotiations to "a big chessboard".
So far, Warner Music, Universal Music and Sony BMG have signed agreements with YouTube to supply some of their content in exchange for licensing fees and a share of associated advertising revenue.
In lieu of upfront payments the music companies received equity stakes in YouTube worth tens of millions of dollars.
Google, having averted that threat, has turned to the film and television companies, offering one $100m to license its content for two years, according to a person familiar with the matter.
谷歌拟为YouTube视频内容“买单”
英国《金融时报》乔舒亚?查芬(Joshua Chaffin)、阿利娜?范?杜恩(Aline van Duyn)纽约、理查德?沃特斯(Richard Waters)旧金山报道
2006年11月3日 星期五
谷歌(Google)正在与有关方面进行紧张谈判，目的是说服传统媒体公司向视频网站YouTube提供内容，以免将来出现“天价”法律诉讼。谷歌上个月以16.5亿美元收购了YouTube。
知情人士称，谷歌首席执行官埃里克?施密特(Eric Schmidt)及其他管理人士已与哥伦比亚广播公司(CBS)、维亚康姆(Viacom)、时代华纳(Time Warner)、NBC环球(NBC Universal)和新闻集团(News Corp)等公司进行了会晤，提出愿意支付数千万美元的预付款，以取得在YouTube上合法播放其视频内容的权利。
对谷歌而言，它对YouTube的投资，究竟将帮助其在迅速发展的在线视频市场上取得领先地位，还是会给它引来一连串的侵权官司，通过上述谈判的结果可见分晓。
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创建于18个月之前的YouTube，每天有1亿次视频短片点击，使其成为人气最高的互联网视频网站，市场也因此预言，该网站和类似网站可能成为相关企业向消费者发布电视、电影及其它视频内容的主要渠道。但是，该网站上许多内容的版权属于传统媒体公司，在此发布并未得到这些公司的许可。
一些传媒业管理人士猜测，如果谷歌的上述努力未获成功，那么YouTube可能会面临与Napster相同的命运。Napster是一家文件共享服务提供商，在7年前享有极高的人气，后因侵权问题被音乐公司告上法庭，从而被迫停业。
施密特最近向英国《金融时报》表示，他希望传媒公司能成为合作伙伴，将其内容与谷歌的广告平台相结合，以传达至更多受众。“目前而言，人们都很认同这一提议；他们现在正在研究怎么做――是否应该合作？怎么合作？在哪些方面合作？”
对传统媒体公司而言，一方面是YouTube的市场推广和广告宣传潜力，能使传媒公司接触到大量新的受众，另一方面是其耗费巨资制作的内容需要保护。他们必须在两者之间进行权衡。
许多传媒公司也很警惕。它们担心，一旦与谷歌合作，将帮助谷歌在视频内容网上发布领域取得主导地位，而谷歌现在已经是搜索广告市场的霸主。
