New content - and quite a lot of it - will soon become available on YouTube.  The video-sharing site's struck a revenue-sharing deal with Channel 4 that'll give it access to full-length, recently broadcast shows along with about 3,000 hours of archive material. 

This development represents a big breakthrough in several ways.  First, there's the obvious benefit to YouTube users, since all of the content will be free as usual.  Also, a press release announced, "The strategic partnership marks the first time that a broadcaster anywhere in the world has made a comprehensive catch-up schedule available on YouTube . . ."

And considering that YouTube and Channel 4 have been in negotiations for around six months - and that their new deal will be effective for at least three years - they're demonstrating a significant amount of trust in the arrangement.

There are a couple of details that'll disappoint some people, however.  The biggest one is perhaps that all of the content will only be available to people in the UK.  Then - although this might solve the previous problem - YouTube execs probably aren't thrilled that the deal is nonexclusive, meaning Channel 4 can negotiate with Hulu or any other company it likes.

Anyway, Patrick Walker, YouTube's director of partnerships, said in a statement, "We know that the YouTube community is enthusiastic about full-length programming on the site, and we've been working hard to create the right environment for more broadcasters to make their content . . . .  This partnership demonstrates our commitment to bringing an even greater range of content to YouTube and we look forward to other similar agreements to come."