YouTube Goes for (More) Mass Distribution

Notice how indie and mass commercial distribution networks are merging? Well here’s one more example: Reuters and The Wall Street Journal report that YouTube (apparently we still call it that if even after Google’s buyout) and Verizon are in talks to distribute YouTube videos over cell phones and the FiOS TV network.

I’m very curious to see how this works. What videos will YouTube make available? What kind of interface will it use? Will YouTube users expect compensation when their videos start showing up on TV? We’re just beginning to figure out ad models for blogs and vlogs. What’s the ad system for user-generated TV?

Meanwhile, Google’s YouTube continues to insist that advertisers won’t be allowed to mess up the YouTube experience. But now that YouTube’s in business with heavyweights Google and Verizon, how can it stave off the pressure to make gobs and gobs of money?

Money issues aside, it’s fascinating to watch the further blurring of the lines between professional and amateur content. If you’ve got something good in the new meritocracy of Internet distribution, you too can be popular in living rooms around the world. Like Verizon says, “It’s the network.”