NBC Universal & Viacom vs. YouTube

Jeff Zucker, on his first day as chief executive of NBC Universal, came out swinging at YouTube, accusing the online video site of failing to deploy its technology to protect the copyrighted materials of traditional media companies.

“YouTube needs to prove that it will implement its filtering technology across its online platform. It’s proven it can do it when it wants to,” Mr Zucker said, referring to the site’s controls to block pornography and hate speech. He added: “They have the capability. The question is whether they have the will.”

That frustration boiled over on Friday when Viacom, which owns MTV, Comedy Central and other youth-oriented brands, demanded that YouTube remove all of their clips from its site. Viacom executives have been eager to see whether other traditional media companies will follow their lead.

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