TVSquad

Hearst-Argyle, which owns 29 local news stations in the United States, has signed a licensing deal with YouTube that will allow its stations to share in the ad revenue. Hearst-Argyle's stations are affiliated with all the major networks and reach about eighteen percent of the households in the United States.

YouTube will actually pay a licensing fee for news, weather and entertainment from these stations. This is the first time YouTube has struck such a deal.

American Greetings has announced a licensing deal with daytime talk show host and comedian Ellen DeGeneres. Called "the ellen collection," the 32 cards will feature illustrations of the benevolent, pant-suited wonder along with one of her trademark witticisms. Ellen had this to say about the venture, "I look at having a line of cards as another extension of being a host; helping you wish your loved ones well, piggy-backing on your birthday greetings. I like to be up in the middle of everything and doing it this way is much easier than crashing parties."

Cards will start turning up in grocery stores and drug stores as early as this summer. So, watch your back crotchety old Shoebox Greetings lady, Ellen's coming. And, if we're lucky, other television personalities will follow suit. "Get well soon so I don't have to look at your whiny face" cards from Dr. House. "I'd wish you a Happy Birthday if I didn't think I was stuck in Purgatory" cards from the cast of Lost. The possibilities are limitless.