The video site YouTube, the latest wave of internet phenomenon to crest, signed a deal with NBC to promote clips of the network's upcoming fall season.

YouTube has traditionally been used by amateur filmmakers for humor videos and short films, or, for bootlegs of television shows-- most famously of the "Lazy Sunday" skit on "Saturday Night Live" that made its way onto the site and was taken down after NBC's legal department requested its removal. 

This partnership marks the first time that YouTube -- the leading video-sharing site on the internet with 13 million U.S. visitors browsing 550 million pages in the month of May alone -- has sought to promote media outside that of its own users. 

Unlike the unauthorized, often "TiVoed" segments that make their way onto YouTube as part of the 60,000 daily uploads, NBC's clips will be produced by the network, and will feature both new season shows and past favorites. Some will include segments like those on newer DVDs: exclusive behind-the-scenes interviews and other items available exclusively through YouTube. They will run on a separate channel specifically created for NBC video.

NBC hopes the deal will help expose upcoming NBC shows to viewers who may tune out TV over the summer but continue to surf the net.

Reportedly, in exchange for the channel on YouTube, NBC has committed to purchasing a certain amount of ads on YouTube, although that figure has not been released.