YouTube could now face an extensive bill for royalties after it has lost a court battle in Germany over music videos. A court in Hamburg has ruled that YouTube is responsible for the content that users post to the video sharing site, and wants the video site to install filters that detect pirated content. During the court's hearing, German industry group Gema said that YouTube had not done enough to stop copyrighted clips from being posted.  

The BBC is developing an iTunes-like service that would allow UK viewers to download old and new BBC TV shows. According to PaidContent, the BBC wants to make all of its shows available as download-to-own (DTO), at about £1.89 per show. The BBC has been negotiating for rights with independent producers that make some of their shows. The service could serve as a new source of revenue and serves as an opportunity to defend their broadcasting against piracy.

Online music services in the Middle East are abandoning plans for legal music-downloading due to the region's piracy problem. Two of the region's popular digital music sites, including Music Master, are relaunching to offer songs via streaming, where subscribers can legally listen to the songs without downloading them. 

Television signal piracy in the Middle East has cost pay-tv providers an estimated amount of 500 million dollars. Illegal content distribution has been a significant problem in the region, with the problem being worst in Egypt and Lebanon.