NBC's Dysfunctional Online Relationship

Today's Wall Street Journal examines NBC's fucking-or-fighting relationship with YouTube, a union best illustrated by NBC's insistence that the site take down SNL's "Lazy Sunday" video after YouTube had built it into a viral sensation that quickly spawned unspeakably lame imitations, all while the network was negotiating to buy ads and provide authorized content to the video sharing service in hopes of replicating the clip's success. An NBC executive does his best to explain the attraction/repulsion they feel for such sites:
"These viral sites are interesting to us in instances before a show becomes an asset and we are trying to expose it to people," says John Miller, NBC's chief marketing officer. "Once something becomes a hit it's a different story. Our interest here is generating revenue for ourselves."
Some (like a Bolt.com staffer quoted in the piece) accuse NBC of "not getting it," but we think they have a pretty good handle on how things should work in Hollywood: Use anyone or anything like a dirty little whore until your objectives are achieved, and then shove their lifeless body out of your car and into a ravine on Mulholland once their usefulness has been fully exploited.