YouTube Gets Legit Programmes

The Hollywood Reporter notes that YouTube has struck a deal with Hearst-Argyle Television Inc, which own 26 television stations in Boston, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Sacramento, Calif., and Manchester, N.H. YouTube will distribute local television programmes from the Hearst-Argyle network in a new revenue-sharing agreement.

"This deal fits perfectly within our overall digital strategy," said Terry Mackin, executive vp at Hearst-Argyle Television. "We have invested significant resources in our growing digital media efforts."

Hearst-Argyle is an investor in Internet Broadcasting Systems Inc., which publishes local TV news Web sites, including Hearst-Argyle stations. Last month, Internet Broadcasting signed a deal with Turner Broadcasting's CNN, which will bring CNN content to its sites and vice versa.

Also, Russian online news source, Kommersant, reported that English-language TV channel Russia Today has launched it own section on YouTube.

"For us, the agreement with YouTube is the chance to widen audience of our channel by hundreds of thousand users of Internet, for whom, watching TV on the computer monitor is more habitual and comfortable," said Russia Today Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan.