Michael Grade calls YouTube a "parasite"

16 September 2008 13:25 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

ITV chairman Michael Grade has called YouTube a "parasite". Speaking at the IBC technology convention in Amsterdam, Grade said that tech companies such as Google, were not a threat to ITV.

"The day that Google or Joost or any of these people start investing £1 billion a year in UK content is the day I'll start to be worried", he said.

"They're all parasites, they just live off our content is what they do. As long as we can create the content, the content is the keys to the castle for us going forward."

Grade, who recently complained that "non-UK" companies like Google and Apple can build "market dominating" positions online with no regulatory approval also said:

"People who keep writing the obituaries for existing broadcasters ignore one thing - they are people who are in love with technology and distribution mechanisms - that the history of the modern media age is littered with casualties of people who believed in technology rather than content."

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Biz, ITV, Google, YouTube