Anyone who has Internetted before is likely well aware of how YouTube works. Legally, YouTube is a place where people go to upload their own random videos for people to see. In the real world, YouTube is a place where people steal other people's videos and post them online, pawning them off as their own until YouTube shuts them down. Then the user just changes his user name, reposts the video, then repeat...

Sometimes, companies do actually use YouTube to promote their TV shows and movies, and the BBC is one of the biggest to do so. It is not uncommon to see 9 or so, minutes of “TopGear->ke1860” and “Nigella Lawson” on YouTube for “promotional purposes.” In the UK, the Authority for Television on Demand (ATVOD) regulates on-demand videos and forces all companies to sign up and pay fees for TV-like programs on places like YouTube.

Well, the ATVOD is now calling these 9-minute pieces TV-like programs and are requiring the BBC to pony up ₤2,900 ($4,601 at the current exchange rates) per channel on YouTube for said programming.

The BBC is now appealing to the governing sector of its government, the Office of Communications (Ofcom) to have this matter resolved. The BBC actually operates its own On-Demand TV service and pays the fees related to it, as required by law, but it feels the YouTube videos are “short form” and are not typically watched at home.

We'll keep an eye on this story, but we are pretty certain that the BBC will come out of this still paying a little money due to this odd law.

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