Disney’s TV Unit in Deal With YouTube - NYTimes.com

Disney’s TV Unit in Deal With YouTube - NYTimes.com: "Walt Disney’s television division became the latest media company to make a distribution deal with YouTube on Monday, saying that it would share short-form content with the world’s largest video Web site.

Disney refused to comment on reports that it has held talks with both YouTube and another video site, Hulu, about distributing full-length episodes of shows like “Lost” and “Desperate Housewives.” Disney is in negotiations with Hulu to take an equity stake in the site, which is a joint venture of NBC Universal and the News Corporation, according to a person close to the talks who requested anonymity while discussing internal deliberations. A Hulu spokeswoman did not respond to requests for comment.

For now, ABC seems to want to use YouTube to promote its programs, but not replace ABC.com as a destination for online TV viewing. The deal is similar to one signed last fall with CBS. With its revenue growth slowing, Google has been trying to add professional content to YouTube in an effort to lure advertisers. Professional videos are more appealing to advertisers than videos uploaded by users."