The BBC's director of Future Media and Technology, Ashley Highfield, said the BBC would not hunt down BBC clips already on YouTube, but it reserved the right to have content removed that infringed other people's copyright. In December the BBC announced a deal to post full length shows on Zudeo - a YouTube-esque service for high definition content. Zudeo uses BitTorrent peer-to-peer technology to distribute content and is backed by the team behind the highly popular Azureus BitTorrent client.

Meanwhile YouTube officials say they are adding more than 200 mostly small media companies or sites a quarter, reports the New York Times. More than 1,000 partnerships have been struck with content owners ranging from the Sundance Channel to small independent video producers.

The news follows Monday's announcement of a deal between YouTube and the NBA to create an "NBA Channel" on the site, offering game and behind-the-scenes footage. It's also encouraging fans to post videos of their own basketball feats. That agreement follows a similar deal between YouTube and the National Hockey League late last year. Chelsea F.C. also recently became the first English Premiership football club to announce a deal with YouTube.{moscomment}