Today YouTube announced that it will be warning users in Japan not to upload copyrighted materials to the popular video hosting site. While currently planned only for Japan, this could be considered a test run for limited or completely banning copyrighted content from the site.

As more and more content owners figure out how to monetize their video content, they’ll be asking YouTube to do the same. I have said that the initial spur of YouTube deals has been done in haste, and ultimately not valuable beyond the PR from getting a deal done with them. Watch for content owners to reel in the number of outlets they provide material to.

With all the attention on user “generated” media, home made videos, spoof commercials, karaoke-style music videos, Nike’s campaign that allows users to “mash-up” their own music videos and/or commercials using content provided by Nike, didn’t get the credit or attention it deserved.

Nike provides choices for your soundtrack and plenty of clips of slam dunks, fantastic shots and promotional content to create an exciting piece of user-”compiled” media that puts the brand in charge of the quality of the video, the licensing of the music and securing A-list talent.

I can’t take another minute of the Walter Payton / Brian Piccalo tribute right now, so I’m revisiting a story from earlier in the week.

NBC reported that more than 60% of its users stream full episodes on their broadband site, Rewind. 6.9 million users have streamed almost 42 million videos on the site, they said.

Impressive on first glance, and certainly compared to some of the other neworks’ figures, but on closer look, I’m not blown away. Why?

According to MediaPost’s reporting, NBC made full episodes of “Heroes,” “30 Rock,” “Friday Night Lights,” “Las Vegas,” “Studio 60″ and “My Name Is Earl” available in October. This season they’ve added “Grease: You’re The One That I Want” and “The Apprentice.”

I know the math is really shoddy, but I haven’t seen the report, so I’m using big brush strokes for simple math.

Thats six shows since the start of the TV season, and two more in the past month. Seven million streams since October. There have been roughly 12 episodes to date this season, all of which are available on Rewind. 7 million total steams / 12 weeks = fewer than 600,000 streams per week. Thats fewer than 100,000 streams per show, all things being equal.

Of those 100K per show, 60% streamed the full episode. 60,000 streams per show episode. Compared to the popularity of the viral video du jour from the GooTubes of the world, its just not that large a number.

On the other hand, NBC reported that 34% of those 6.9 million watched a show they had never seen before, that amounts to 2,350,000 people checking out a show outside of its regularly scheduled programming, and not on their Tivo.

So, broadband TV watchers, you tell me. Is this a major coup for NBC’s broadband offerings? Or just a drop in the bucket compared to the alternatives?

Personally, I’ve hunted for higher quality, even HDTV, versions of the programs on the many torrent sites available. With all respect to relative success NBC believes it has had, the quality is still sub-par. On my 19″ widescreen LCD monitor, its just not an enjoyable way to spend an hour, or half that. In about 15 minutes, people in search of quality can find the program they want with astonishing ease, download at speeds of 750KBps, and be watching their 42″ high def screens from the comfort of their sofa.

All in all, the broadband offings from the major networks and cable channels are still an extension of the brand, but not a viable, lean back and relax viewing experience.

Viacom owned iFilm will post the Superbowl commercials on their site shortly after they air live on TV. Handy for bloggers who want to post them on their sites (provided they are actually buzz worthy). Presumably they’ll be posting the embed tags, but we’ll see soon enough.

I find all the SB commercial hype to be particularly out of hand this year. Having seen a number of the user generated commercials, I can’t help but predict a surprisingly tame set of commercials for this afternoon.

What I find even more amazing about the Superbowl and commercial hoopla is that during the other 364 days out of the year, we do everything in our power to avoid watching commercials. comScore released some fairly predictable data earlier this week, showing that 36% of women and 17% of men are turning in for the commercials.