You have to love Mark Cuban, who says it like it is. At a conference yesterday, he said only a "moron" would buy YouTube. "They are just breaking the law," CNet reported. "The only reason it hasn't been sued yet is because there is nobody with big money to sue." Cuban's no-lawsuit theory may be right but isn't a little curious YouTube has escaped the wrath of copyright owners so far while Napster, et al incited a wave of lawsuits and attacks on consumers? Here's my theory at when it comes to television programs being downloaded. While people are accessing them for free, there is still advertising on them. Maybe this gives copyright owners the luxury of figuring out whether they can work with video-sharing services such as YouTube rather than suing them.
Update: Something I didn't know until today is YouTube a 100MB upload limit, which means only 10 minute video clips can be shown - perfect for segments from the Daily Show and Bill Clinton interviews on Fox; not good for The Sopranos or House episodes. Maybe this is why the TV and movie industries haven't given YouTube a difficult time legally because 10-minute clips are more marketing vehicles than threats. For more thoughts, check out Don Dodge, a former v.p. with Napster, who takes issue with many of Cuban's ideas about YouTube. The New York Times also weighs in with a story on YouTube.

While Research in Motion's strong fiscal third-quarter performance and stock option review are in the spotlight, an interesting theme from yesterday's conference call with analysts was the idea carrers will unveil pay-as-you-go or lower price, consumer-friendly packages. It is based on the idea you can increase the number of high-margin Blackberry users by making price less of an issue. T-Mobile, for example, is offering a $19.99 all-you-can-eat plan as part of its Pearl marketing efforts. Truth be told, one of the Blackberry's dirty, little secrets - and perhaps a key part of its success - is few people really pay to use them. Instead, their companies pay the Blackberry bills so most people don't pay much attention to how much it costs. Jim Balsillie, RIM's co-CEO, said Blackberry users are five to six times more profitable than regular cell phone users, which is why carriers probably love the Blackberry so much.  Given the Pearl is more of a pro-sumer device, price will play a role in its success after the initial euphoria is over. Let's see if Canadian carriers, who have adopted pricing discipline as a corporate mantra, will buy into a Blackberry pricing approach.