Google and YouTube are submitting nine-figure licensing fees in front of major programming and media players like Time Warner, reported Business Week.

The move is seen as a way for Google to avoid copyright lawsuits.

In October Google purchased the popular video sharing site YouTube for $1.6 billion.

In November, Reuters reported that a copyright lawsuit relating to a documentary video that appeared on Google Video was filed against the search portal giant.

Business Week reported that the licensing sum to the major networks can also been seen as a preliminary payment so Google could "figure out how to make serious money" once they "get the advertising and revenue sharing worked out."

Recently YouTube has formed content deals with providers such as the National Hockey League and NBC Universal to avoid illegal posting of copyrighted materials.

Earlier this week, YouTube also announced a mobile deal with Verizon to stream video over mobile devices.