Was reading this story in the Globe by Grant Roberts about the myriad deals TV nets are striking with websites, particularly NBC and YouTube. Check here for a recap, but basically NBC did an about-face and went from attempting to take YouTube to court for posting NBC clips without consent, to striking a partnership which sees it formally supply content to YouTube. (Broadcasting & Cable is reporting today on a promotional deal between ABC’s Good Morning America and YouTube, so I guess there’s no exclusivity joy for NBC.)

I love the comments on Grant’s story, all three of them. My favorite is from some guy (and I know it’s a guy, I just know it) who calls himself Fine By Me. According to him, “TV is dead.”

TV is dead. Newspapers are dead. The :30 spot is dead. Mainstream media is dead. Oh, come now. Time to get some sentient doctors to examine those death certificates because traditional media, though in flux, makes big profits, reaches billions. I’ve been staying at a friend’s place recently and TV is the star attraction over there - Big Brother, Rock Star: Supernova, anything with Gordon Ramsay in it. Yep, they’re watching it on PVR but they are watching it, rabidly. Three urban women, prime demographic, lots of spending power - there’s a big TV and a fat stack of glossy magazines. On the subway this morning, I was jammed in nose-to-armpit with thousands of commuters wrestling with a newspaper (though usually a free one).

Not dead, see? Business models changing? Yep. New competition? Yep. Still making money? Yep.