Overheard at YouTube HQ: Ooh, we're really scared. Look buddy, we just got sued for $1 billion, you think your $1 million threat is really gonna keep us up at night?
The Times newspaper (no online version yet) is reporting that British boxing entrepreneur Robert Waterman is threatening to sue YouTube for $1 million after it hosted clips of the WBO World heavyweight boxing match between Vladimir Klitschko and Ray Austin on March 10th.
His company, which owns SecondsOut.com, had a globally exclusive deal to screen the fight live on the web, but instead the clip racked up 100,000 views on YouTube. SecondsOut operates on a pay-per-view basis, so there's a claim of lost revenues.
Here's a tip for the sports industry: that business model won't work anymore. You no longer control the distribution channel, and the second that content is provided to a user, they'll download it and resyndicate it all over the web. Inevitably, we'll need to adopt a model that provides unlimited syndication, with watermarking and embedded ads, so the business model remains while users still get access to the content. This model would also solve the issue of unauthorized fan footage: rather than keep your version locked up and fight an endless battle to keep cameraphones and video cameras away from sporting events, just offer a higher quality version for free with an ad attached.
Related: Viacom-YouTube