US media company Viacom has been planning, for many months now, to allow people to take videos from a number of its websites and post them on their own blogs and sites. Viacom, which is responsible for MTV and the Paramount movie studio, recently demanded the removal of more than 100,000 videos on YouTube. "We need to open up our websites and content both for consumers and for other companies," said Mika Salmi, MTV Networks president of global digital media.
Viacom"s Comedy Central website has been allowing viewers to embed its videos on their own sites since December. This allows Viacom to rely less on video sites to reach viewers and also control its own programming and advertising. As part of its move to invest more heavily in the internet, MTV Networks plans to cut 250 jobs (about 6% of its work force). Judy McGrath, chief executive of MTV Networks, said the company aims to build up some areas, reduce resources in others as well as explore "new business models for television and online" overseas.