Digital Trends

The BBC will put excerpts of its news and entertainment shows on YouTube, while upstart Joost has signed a deal with "ethnic" online video provider JumpTV.

The online video landscape shifted subtly today with two separate announcements. First, Britain's BBC has inked a deal to distribute excerpts of its news and entertainment programming via Internet video sharing site YouTube, while upcoming Internet television service Joost has signed a deal with Canada's JumpTV to being a variety of "ethnic" programming to its service.

First up, the BBC and YouTube have entered into an agreement which will create three BBC channels on the popular online video sharing site: one channel for news and two for entertainment programming. One of the two entertainment channels (called just "BBC") will be offered under an advertising-free "public service" model, and will carry trailers and short features (like behind-the-scenes looks at shows or video diaries); the second entertainment channel ("BBC Worldwide") will feature three- to six-minute clips of popular BBC archival programs and carry ads (possibly including pre-roll ads embedded in the video streams). A BBC News channel, due to be launched later in 2007, will carry about 30 news clips a day; it will also feature advertising in an arrangement similar to the BBC's existing content-sharing partnership with Yahoo—which also means the BBC News YouTube channel will only be accessible outside the United Kingdom.

Separately, Canada's JumpTV, which offers a wide variety of international television programming via the Internet has made a deal to offer some of its programming via the upcoming Joost online television service. JumpTV carries television programs from more than 70 countries categories into nearly 300 channels on both a free and subscription basis; offerings include programming from South Korea, Pakistan, the Philippines, Greece, India, Peru, and many more. JumpTV will initially offer oost Spanish-language series from Colombia, Chile, and Peru, along with an Arabic-language comedy. JumpTV will later make programming in Romanian, Turkish, Russian, and Bengali available via Joost.