Viacom makes videos available online

By Kenneth Li

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Viacom's MTV Networks Group has signed deals to make videos available on five online video services and Comcast Corp's broadband site, as the company aims to increase its presence on the Web.

Dailymotion, GoFish, iMeem, MeeVee and Veoh Networks entered agreements, MTV Networks said on Tuesday at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The show where the industry trots out its newest gadgets and gizmos has been short on seismic changes this year, but Viacom Chief Executive Philippe Dauman told Reuters in an interview that even small developments have made big differences for consumers.

"We're at a phase of the development of the Internet, when we are seeing the accumulation of a lot of incremental changes that makes it easier for consumers and users to navigate information and entertainment online."

Unlike prior years when top media executives took to the CES stages, this year a handful, including Dauman and News Corp Chief Operating Officer Peter Chernin, have kept low profiles.

What is not certain is whether deals like the ones MTV has struck, aimed at finding consumers wherever they spend time on the Web, have generated financial returns.

"We're eager to get our content out there," said Greg Clayman, MTV Networks executive vice president of digital distribution said on the sidelines of the show. "Our fans are already there."

Early results have shown that its online distribution of clips or in some cases entire episodes of some of its shows have helped boost television ratings, which rebounded in the fourth quarter.