Hearst-Argyle, which owns 29 local news stations in the United States, has signed a licensing deal with YouTube that will allow its stations to share in the ad revenue. Hearst-Argyle's stations are affiliated with all the major networks and reach about eighteen percent of the households in the United States.

YouTube will actually pay a licensing fee for news, weather and entertainment from these stations. This is the first time YouTube has struck such a deal.

This is an interesting bit of yin yang for y'all*:

It seems that all the reasons given by Claudio Petruccioli, president of the Italian state broadcaster RAI, not to have reality programming on his channel are the exact reasons why American broadcasters want to have more reality programming:

• "unreasonable if not degrading behaviour"
• "[putting] people into environments that are both unrealistic and coercive"

(S18E12)

Homer: Why would I go to Utah? I love booze, caffeine and monogamy.

This episode really felt like two episodes in one, with both Lisa's story about her made up Native American heritage and Bart becoming involved with an older girl (played by Natalie Portman). Overall, my first reaction --having only seen the episode once-- is that it felt like the quintessential Simpsons episode with plenty of smart dialogue and enough hidden gags I know I probably won't catch until the second or third round in syndication. Of course, that could just be because I'm really slow.

When American Idol kicked off this week, Kelly Clarkson made some headlines for refusing to allow AI contestants to sing any of her songs. Simon Cowell made some nasty remarks about her refusal, saying something about biting the hand that feeds you, so she quickly changed her mind. Now her label, Sony BMG, says they are in negotiations with American Idol to decide which of her songs can be used by performers. It sounds like Kelly, or a representative for her, will approve the use of her songs on a case-by-case basis, but only for American Idol. The refusal to license her music to AI was actually part of a larger, overall policy that she has about not allowing her songs to be used for any purpose.

Do you still associate Kelly Clarkson with American Idol? I don't. Her Breakaway album sounds nothing like the music we hear on the show, nor does it sound like the crap songs the winners sing in the finals. I realize she'd still be a cocktail waitress without the show, but she's bigger than American Idol now. I guess that album title is fitting, isn't it?