Joost has just announced a major licensing deal with Viacom which will see hundreds of hours of their TV programming and movies from Paramount Studios, available on the Web 2.0 Internet TV platform.

What will this mean for Joost customers? Here is an excerpt from the press release:

MTV Networks will provide premier content from several of its brands for launch. MTV will offer popular shows, both past and present, including Laguna Beach, Beavis & Butthead, Real World, Punk’d and My Super Sweet Sixteen, while COMEDY CENTRAL will feature episodes from Stella, CCP’s and Freak Show. Nickelodeon, CMT: Country Music Television, MTV2, Logo, Spike TV, mtvU, and Gametrailers.com will also provide content. VH1’s offerings will include episodes of Flavor of Love, Surreal Life, and I Love New York. BET’s Networks’ offerings will include some of its biggest shows, including Beef, DMX: Soul of a Man, Comic View and recent smash hit American Gangster. Also, Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vantage and Paramount Classics will be providing full-length feature films from their catalog of classics and recent releases.

“We’re interested in distribution of our content on as many platforms as possible, provided we can operate in a secure environment,” Viacom Chief Executive Philippe Dauman said in an interview. “This assures any potential partners that we’re open for business and that we’re able to enter into transactions with companies that respect our content and the considerations of our business.”

Meanwhile, YouTube has been ordered by Viacom to remove over 100,000 videos from the site that they claim contain Viacom copyright material.

It will be interesting to see how other players like Viacom react to this deal. It certainly seems like Joost is the answer they have been looking for in terms of getting their content online, but with IP protection and a revenue model. It could prove tough times ahead for Google and YouTube as they try to walk the thin line between commercial partnerships and legal action with these media companies.

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