COLUMN: 03-14-2007

As usual, the business world has clearly lost it's mind (or at least it's long term vision) as it pursues short terms profits. The lawsuits filed this week by Viacom and GE against YouTube, and parent company Google, ignore the fact that most of the programs being "pirated" on YouTube have significantly increased the audience for these shows, resulting in higher ratings and thus higher advertising fees and DVD sales. However, the idiots working for GE and Viacom (especially in their legal departments) don't look at that significant long term benefit and instead continually focus on the very limited short term loss of revenue when their old shows are available for free rather than for the cost of a DVD purchase or syndication revenue. They need to pull their heads out of the ground and realize the power of viral advertising before they totally lose their shirts to other companies who understand the new realities of the world.