By YouTube's standards, it took them a long time to implement this deal, but the NHL-YouTube agreement has now come to fruition. The new YouTube channel "NHL Tube" launched on Thursday, and already has 2540 subscribers. They're getting a cut of the ad revenue, of course, but the NHL also wants to reach out to younger viewers who are watching less TV these days.
Just like other recent deals, the NHL will also have the option to find and remove unauthorized clips uploaded by users, or leave them up for promotional value. That's a different tactic to the NFL, which recently asked YouTube to remove 3,000 clips due to copyright infringement. Meanwhile, full NHL games are available on Google Video 48 hours after they're played. None of the NHL videos have made much headway on YouTube's "Most Viewed" or "Top Rated" lists, mainly because of the massive amount of cheating that's happening on YouTube these days.
Related: NHL Connect, the NHL social network.
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