Old media's unwinnable YouTube war
According to Variety YouTube has removed certain Oscar related videos. The rub: They are all back.
Web surfers will no longer be reliving the magic moments of the 2007 Oscarcast via YouTube. The vid-viewing site complied with a Tuesday request from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences to remove all unauthorized clips of the kudocast.
Several segments of the show, including host Ellen DeGeneres' opening monologue and musical numbers featuring Will Ferrell and Beyonce, had been among YouTube's most-viewed content this week.
Search on those same videos today and you'll find plenty of musical numbers that were removed the night before.
What happened? The Academy requested certain videos be removed. YouTube users then uploaded new ones. Beyonce is back. So is Jack Black and Will Ferrell.
So now what? The Academy could request the specific videos be taken down again. YouTube could remove more. And users can add them back. Quite the circle.
It's a war the Academy and ABC can't win unless they sue to ban all Oscar videos from YouTube. And if you're ABC and you need online ad revenue to make up for weak ratings may not be a bad idea. Mark Cuban may have a craftier idea though.
Viacom, CBS and maybe ABC could be off YouTube. Next stop is likely to be a courtroom.