A few weeks ago, YouTube announced that it was launching a series of localised websites. Ireland now has YouTube.ie, Britain YouTube.co.uk and so on for Brazil, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain. <\/p>\n
Most people probably saw this as YouTube reaching out to new audiences, by providing them a service in their own language. But if that were the case, why bother with sites for the UK and Ireland? And why break the US company habit of lumping the two of us into one unit?<\/p>\n
I think the real reason we’ve seen these sites launching was alluded to by the Sunday Business Post<\/a> recently; <\/p>\n As well as the BBC, YouTube has signed up France 24, Spain\u2019s Antena 3 and Cuatro TV and Portugal\u2019s RTP, as partners.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n YouTube are doing deals with national broadcasters. Those broadcasters want to be able to put their wares in front of the widest audience they may and to share in the advertising revenues derived from the clips. <\/p>\n The problem is that some of these broadcasters, with the BBC as the stand out exemplar, are state funded. And they may want, or be obliged, to limit which territories their programmes are accessible from. <\/p>\n For example, here in Ireland we presume that we have an absolute right to access BBC output without contributing a penny towards their licence fee. A few elections back there was even an Independent TD elected on that platform. But the truth is that we are mostly these days watching the BBC through systems which have paid for the privilege of carrying the picture. If the BBC produces something online, we have no right to it whatsoever. Mostly, being a rich and powerful standard bearer for the UK, the Corporation has seen its role as spreading British culture and programming far and wide- famously so in the case of the World Service. This has let us live in our fool’s paradise, presuming we will never be shut out of the BBC’s digital output as it develops.<\/p>\n Nonetheless, I think the localisation of YouTube was likely part of the price of getting traditional broadcasters to deal with the Google-owned giant. They needed to be able to offer the opportunity to limit access to programmes by old fashioned national territories. They also needed to be able to offer tiered access- some programming available to all, some just to licence payers in the home state. <\/p>\n RTE, so far, has decided to boldly lead from behind when it comes to making its video available from anywhere but its own website. From the SBP again;<\/p>\n “RTE Television is watching these developing markets closely, particularly with regard to identifying sustainable business models for video-on-demand and mobile TV within the Irish context,??? said a spokesman.<\/p>\n \u2018\u2018As a leader in Ireland\u2019s creative economy, as one of Ireland\u2019s online pioneers and as Ireland\u2019s public service broadcaster, RTE is committed to a level of caution in the exploration of as-yet unproven markets. The lack of broadband penetration in Ireland will be a significant factor in our assessment of these markets.???<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This is a reiteration of RTE Director General Cathal Goan’s<\/a> presentation to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Communications, Marine and Natural Resources<\/a>. Who knows if these fly-by-night ‘Googles’ with their ‘YouTubes’ will be about in another 30 years. Best to wait and see. Nothing more characterises a pioneer than being committed to caution, we can all agree.<\/p>\n These are all matters which are still in flux. But I think we can expect to find ourselves with our noses pressed up against the window while neighboring countries enjoy new and interesting videos from their national broadcasters in the near to middle future. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A few weeks ago, YouTube announced that it was launching a series of localised websites. Ireland now has YouTube.ie, Britain YouTube.co.uk and so on for Brazil, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain. Most people probably saw this as YouTube reaching out to new audiences, by providing them a service in their own language. But if that were the case, why bother with sites for the UK and Ireland? And why break the US company habit of lumping the two of us into one unit? I think the real reason we’ve seen these sites launching was alluded to by the Sunday Business Post recently; As well as the BBC, YouTube has signed up France 24, Spain\u2019s Antena 3 and Cuatro TV and Portugal\u2019s RTP, as partners. YouTube are doing deals with national broadcasters. Those broadcasters want to be able to put their wares in front of the widest audience they may and to share in the advertising revenues derived from the clips. The problem is that some of these broadcasters, with the BBC as the stand out exemplar, are state funded. And they may want, or be obliged, to limit which territories their programmes are accessible from. For example, here in Ireland we presume that we have an absolute right to access BBC output without contributing a penny towards their licence fee. A few elections back there was even an Independent TD elected on that platform. But the truth is that we are mostly these days watching the BBC through systems which have paid for the privilege of carrying the picture. If the BBC produces something online, we have no right to it whatsoever. Mostly, being a rich and powerful standard bearer for the UK, the Corporation has seen its role as spreading British culture and programming far and wide- famously so in the case of the World Service. This has let us live in our fool’s paradise, presuming we will never be shut out of the BBC’s digital output as it develops. Nonetheless, I think the localisation of YouTube was likely part of the price of getting traditional broadcasters to deal with the Google-owned giant. They needed to be able to offer the opportunity to limit access to programmes by old fashioned national territories. They also needed to be able to offer tiered access- some programming available to all, some just to licence payers in the home state. 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