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Last week, when Viacom demanded the deletion of some 100,000 videos submitted to YouTube because of copyright infringement, it may have been just the beginning of larger, defensive measures.

Viacom is the media giant that owns cable properties like Comedy Central, MTV, and Spike. Unlike many record labels like Sony, BMG, and Warner, who apparently struck some kind of arrangement with Google, Viacom appears set on absolute control over its content, free promotion or not.

News.com reports that Viacom executives "have been quietly telling industry insiders that they plan to aggressively promote their revamped ComedyCentral.com Web site." The article says this is related to a breakdown in negotiations, and the great Viacom purge at YouTube.

But instead of cordoning off its content, Viacom, according to the rumors, is looking for more control of it. Part of the strategy then, is to offer video clip embeds of popular programs like "The Daily Show" and "South Park" that can be displayed on blogs and profiles.

This isn't the first time YouTube has been forced to purge content. In October, operators of the video-sharing site deleted almost 30,000 videos taken directly from Japanese television. In all 23 Japanese TV stations called for the content deletion, moving YouTube to vow more protection in the form of Japanese-language copyright warnings.

The company has also promised to deliver an automated system to detect when copyrighted material has been uploaded, but has not yet done so. This may have been one of the deal-breakers causing Viacom to aggressively handle the situation.

In a statement, Viacom said YouTube and Google had failed to deliver an acceptable filter to prevent unauthorized videos from popping up on the site.

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