Scottish Channel 3 licencee STV is joining Channel 4 and Five as the next major UK broadcaster to syndicate full shows to YouTube.
Though it airs plenty of live ITV (LSE: ITV) output on its TV channel in Scotland, the network doesn’t have VOD rights to all the same material, so don’t expect ITV shows like Coronation Street and Emmerdale to show on YouTube…
ITV is still holding out on aggregators like YouTube, preferring to try pulling audiences to its own ITV.com.
STV already had web-based catch-up, dubbed STV Player, on its own site in a Brightcove player, serving 800,000 streams a month, and has been getting in on mobile.
Its YouTube deal is for over 2,500 hours of STV-produced shows – including archive and new – plus some bought-in shows, and covers international distribution, available via an STV Player-branded channel on YouTube.
YouTube started leading the growing UK TV VOD rights race late in 2009 when it signed C4 and Five deals, under which the video site gives the broadcasters upfront content fees plus some rights to sell their own ads on their material.
It also has rights for a range of other TV--like material, but recently pulled this stuff off its TV Shows homepage, leaving only C4 and Five.
ITV’s signature will continue to prove elusive as long as ITV remains of the belief that it can make more money from selling ads on its own service, and the BBC is tightening up on to which third parties it provides syndicated iPlayer content.