Web 2.0 video phenomena YouTube is in advanced negotiations with Verizon Communications to extend its video content to television, via a future on-demand television offering, and mobile handsets, through the Verizon Wireless premium V Cast multimedia service, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The mobile aspect of the deal, which appears to be an exclusive (at least temporarily), would take the form of a YouTube channel on Verizon's wireless TV service. An agreement could give Verizon an advantage over its carrier and cable rivals, while advancing its attempts to expand further into Internet and entertainment services, the Journal said.

Verizon Wireless, the country's number two mobile operator, is the result of partnership between Verizon Communications and the Vodafone Group, one of the largest operator-conglomerates in the world. V Cast is currently a once-stop shop for music, video games, music and short news, sports, weather and entertainment video clips from major networks like ESPN, The Weather Channel, ABC News, NBC, and Fox.

While YouTube, recently bought by Google for $1.65 billion, is the most widely used and visited video-sharing site in the world; with more than 27.6 million unique visitors in September, according to Nielsen NetRatings, for example, as well as 70,000 new videos uploaded and 100 million viewed every day.

Only a few days ago, one of YouTube's co-founders, Chad Hurley, said at the OgivlyOne Digital Media Summit in New York City, he hoped to have "something on a mobile device" next year, reported Advertising Age. The short running time of most of the videos shared on YouTube make it an excellent fit: "It's a huge market and with our video lengths, it's a natural," Hurley added.

He noted that advertising would be a great way to monetize mobile video sharing. That is if you could create an ad model that works on a mobile device, which he hasn't seen so far.

In related news, TIME magazine just named YouTube the "Invention of the Year for 2006,'' saying:

YouTube is ultimately more interesting as a community and a culture, however, than as a cash cow. It's the fulfillment of the promise that Web 1.0 made 15 years ago. The way blogs made regular folks into journalists, YouTube makes them into celebrities. The real challenge old media face isn't protecting their precious copyrighted material [YouTube has already inked licensing deals with the likes of NBC, CBS, Universal Music, Sony BMG and Warner Music]. It's figuring out what to do when the rest of us make something better. As Hurley puts it, "How do you stay relevant when people can entertain themselves?" He and his partners may have started YouTube, but the rest of us, in our basements and bedrooms, with our broadband and our webcams, invented it.