Fortune - If you visit YouTube.com - where close to half of all online video is seen - the power-to-the-people motto "Broadcast yourself" appears at the top of your browser. Lately, though, it's hard not to wonder if the "you" in YouTube doesn't increasingly refer to "them": the Big Kahuna media companies whose video wares have been gaining more notice both on YouTube and elsewhere on the web.
Just in recent weeks, YouTube has signed deals with CBS (CBS, Fortune 500) and MGM that are noteworthy because both involve airing full-length TV shows like "Star Trek" and films like "Bulletproof Monk" on the site. Clearly these aren't the user-generated clips on which the three-year-old site built its primacy (and got itself acquired by Google (GOOG, Fortune 500)). And even before those deals, YouTube had channels for all sorts of professional clips - everything from the BBC to Discovery Channel to Oprah to the NBA.
Of course, there is still a staggering volume and variety of Diet-Coke-and-Mentos-grade home video being uploaded to YouTube - some 13 hours of it each minute. And putting full-length Hollywood material on the web's top video site is a logical next step. In some respects, YouTube is playing catch-up to compete with the flood of shows available on the web from all the major TV networks, both on their own sites and others like Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500) and Hulu.
Read More
