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YouTube has confirmed a deal that sees it edging into direct competition with traditional broadcasters

YouTube has won the rights to stream Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket live in every country outside the United States for the next two years.

It's almost suprising that individual country rights still exist when so much of the content we consume is global - why should Mad Men be broadcast in the US before the UK? It's becoming increasingly clear that people will go out of their way to access the content they want to watch, through illegal streaming and file sharing when no legal option is available.

A spokesman for the IPL told The Guardian that TV rights would be sold separately, explaining: 'The dedicated fanbase will still want to watch on TV.' A sweet thought, but isn't the audience happily platform-agnostic now?

As proof: web streaming site Hulu's traffic has been growning by 50% every five months in the US, and that's before its European and Asian launches. Deals have been struck between LG and Netflix, and Samsung and Blockbuster, to enable people to access the movie rental services directly through their TVs. This should be popular because it's far easier for people to access such services through a TV or PC rather than getting hold of a physical copy.

All this should be extremely interesting to traditional broadcasters, as Google continues to compete in every arena. While the BBC has broken ground with the development of the iPlayer, it's still only available in the UK.

Why has it taken a web-based company to realise that content is content, wherever it may live, and leaving broadcasters behind? First advertising revenues started to slip away, in favour of the internet, and now content is following.

YouTube claims that this is the first major sporting event to be streamed across the globe. We're certain it won't be the last.

www.youtube.com/ipl
www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/jan/20/youtube-live-indian-premier-league