To the chagrin of Google and YouTube, Viacom on Tuesday strengthened ties with Google rival Microsoft in an agreement to place more entertainment programming onto Microsoft's Xbox Live Web service.
The software giant will make available a free, downloadable, HD version of a popular episode from Comedy Central's "South Park," as part of a promotion for its HD DVD add-on for the Xbox360. The idea
is to spur more Xbox 360 users into buying shows from Viacom and other media companies.
The move comes as part of Viacom's ongoing strategy to make its content widely available for
purchasing and viewing online. It's also a slap in the face to Google. On Monday, Reuters published critical comments made by Microsoft's Associate General Counsel Thomas Rubin about the manner in
which Google "systematically violates copyright." Indeed, big media agrees: Google has yet to sign an entertainment giant to a broad distribution deal with YouTube.
Other media giants
have eschewed YouTube in favor of Microsoft services. News Corp.'s Fox Network, for example, distributes several of its shows on Soapbox, Microsoft's video-sharing site.
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