• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, November 16, 2006

Google's YouTube has struck a content and advertising deal with the National Hockey League, the new partners announced Wednesday. The NHL--the first professional U.S. sports league to align with YouTube--will provide YouTubers with daily highlight videos from regular season games, and other NHL-produced footage.

The agreement comes on the heels of a content-sharing partnership between the NHL and Google. Earlier this month, the league said it would provide videos of full-length games, from this season and past seasons, to Google Video. Google and the NHL also announced plans to add user-generated video to the site.

YouTube and the NHL said they will share revenue generated from ads placed next to the league's clips, which will be accessible via search or from a dedicated video channel--youtube.com/NHL. YouTube also will work with the NHL to remove some copyrighted clips posted by YouTube users.

In an effort to minimize claims of copyright infringement, YouTube has proactively sought out deals with content owners from the television and music industries. The video-sharing startup, which launched in early 2005, recently reached pacts with CBS Corp., NBC Universal, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony BMG.

Google's acquisition of YouTube for $1.65 billion closed Tuesday.

It is still unclear how much of an impact copyright lawsuits will have on Google, but the search giant has set aside more than $200 million dollars in company shares to "secure certain indemnification obligations."