YouTube, the video subsidiary of Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. (USA) (NYSE:LGF) have officially partnered up on a revenue-sharing deal.  Lions Gate will get a branded channel on YouTube and will provide content from movies such as Dirty Dancing and TV shows such as Weeds. 

YouTube also expects Disney, MGM, Warner Brothers, and Universal to strike similar deals with them down the line as well. 

“You can take the strategy of fighting an endless war of trying to take down and resist YouTube or you can take the strategy of embracing the fact people seem to want to watch content in this way,” stated Curt Marvis, President of Digital Media at Lions Gate.  “I think we’re the first studio to make a move to really try to create a new level of monetization of the YouTube audience.”

Video clips that are streamed on the Lions Gate channel will have the full versions available for download at a certain price from the user.  The official launch of the video channel is not yet known.

Related Links:
YouTube
Lions Gate

Hulu is proving more and more everyday that they are not Clown Co. Hulu has just made a solid move for catering to those that prefer having RSS aggregation websites as their browser homepage.

Now Hulu has a way to add RSS feeds for several categories of videos on their site including: Recently Added Videos, Recently Added Shows, Highest Rated Videos, Most Popular Videos, Most Popular Videos This Week, Most Popular Videos This Month, Most Popular Videos All Time, Soon-To-Expire Videos.  Personally I’m going to take every one of these RSS feeds and add them to a separate tab on my current homepage, Netvibes.

There is also an Add Video check box that allows Hulu to embed the video within the RSS feed aggregation box.  This feature is not quite supported yet, but I’m sure it’s a work-in-progress.

What makes these RSS feeds interesting is that Feedburner powers them.  Feedburner is owned by Google and Google owns YouTube, a Hulu competitor. Oh, the irony.  No matter what you do on the web, it somehow connects to Google in some sort of degree.  Just like all of us are six degrees from Kevin Bacon, every Google competitor is 2 degrees away from Google.

Another interesting feature of Hulu is the ability to embed videos into social networks.  This will surely drive additional hits to Hulu.  Hulu is currently ranked 3,000 or so on Alexa and growing.  Below is a screen shot of Hulu in my Netvibes.

Great feature, keep it up Hulu team.

Hulu’s content is provided by Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:TWX) through NBC and warner Bros., General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) through NBC, MGM Mirage (NYSE:MGM), Sony Corporation (NYSE:SNE), and Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. (NYSE:LGF),

Break.com^[1], a video website based in Beverly Hills, Calif. has raised a substantial amount of money.  Since the company’s inception in 1998, it has been self-funded and constantly serving videos for the general Internet public.  The website receives roughly 17 million unique visitors per month and may possibly have some of its video uploaders hired for production deals.

The amount of funding received is $21 million and was invested by Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation^[2] (NYSE:LGF) for a 42% stake in Break.com.  Lions Gate is known for producing films such as The Descent and horror movie, Hostel: Part II, and Academy Award winner, CRASH.

“We see this as a good opportunity,” stated Peter Wilkes, a Lions Gate spokesman. “It’s a smart, savvy site that’s targeted to a young male demographic with which we’re very familiar.”

Lions Gate’s library includes 11,000 motion pictures and TV episodes.  Lions will be levaraging Break.com’s technology in getting some of this content online.

“Break is one of the freshest and most original platforms for content in the new media space,” stated Lions Gate’s CEO and Co-Chairman, Jon Feltheimer.  “They immediately appealed to us as an ideal fit.  They serve a large niche that we know well, and they are another entrepreneurial partner whose culture, business plan, and creative sensibilities blend seamlessly with our own.”

According to Hitwise Media, Break.com ranks as the 11th place destination for males with 17 million unique visitors as mentioned above, 550 million page views, and 300 million streamed videos per month.  Break.com also currently has parnterships with NBC, Endemol, and Twisted Pictures.  YouTube, watch out.

[1] Break.com
[2] Lionsgate.com

References:
[3] PaidContent: Video Site Break.com Gets Funding From Lionsgate; $21 Million For 42 Percent Stake
[4] PRNewswire: Lionsgate Makes Equity Investment in Break.com
[5] Bloomberg.com: Lions Gate Buys Stake in Online Video Distributor Break.com