Google to Viacom: Bring it on!!

The quote below from Michael Arrington at Techcrunch is telling:


"The DMCA goes out the door under certain circumstances, like profiting from violations, refusing to take down offending content, etc."

YT profiting? Yeah right. My understanding is YT was a big money loser on its own and certainly wasn't generating a profit ever. And surely they aren't now, they're effectively being amortized and $1.6B is alot of write off. Sure google is profitable but that won't be hard for anyone with a clue to separate why YT is a drain on profits to goog.

To my knowledge, YT has no reasonably offensive content on its service and even if they did, it wouldn't matter unless it was viacom's content so this doesn't seem to be applicable. I'm not sure what other examples Michael means when he says 'etc' but this lawsuit is no big deal to Google. In fact, I imagine they played viacom like Sumner plays the skin flute, masterfully.

5 years from now google will have squashed viacom and whoever else goes illogical on them. Squashed because viacom just committed a slow and painful death to themselves. Who are they(viacom) kidding trying to go up against the new media king, google? Viacom will learn that the internet, or IP, is the most efficient way of delivering content. more efficient than the other three networks; TV, Radio and Print. When google rolls out free internet access to anyone in a coverage area and owns the entire user experience or has significant influence on it, they will flick the viacoms, cbs', ge's, fox's, etc of the world off their back like a fly being smacked off a horses ass....by the horses tail :)

Face it, Viacom makes money selling advertising. Google sells more advertising than anyone in the world and can buy any company that poses a threat. As we know, Google is branching out to TV and Print and even Radio. When they own all four distribution channels and combine all their advertising packages to one network, where will viacom be?

Google's real threat isn't Viacom or any other lawsuit that comes their way. Their biggest threat is the DOJ. Comparing Google's scope to the scope of Ma Bell pre breakup is like comparing the Airbus 380 to a Boeing 737. Google, the A380, dwarfs the 737 in terms of scope, capabilities, load, range, power, etc. Sneaky Google is. They are getting as close to the edge as they can without grossly crossing it in the eyes of the general public. Will DOJ intervene? Who knows but if they set the precedent with AT&T, where the hell are they now? Oh yeah, how could I forget...they're busy protecting our youth from steroids and other human growth hormones.