Google is approaching a number of major companies in the entertainment industry as it looks to tackle a number of copyright issues associated with its newly-acquired online video-sharing site YouTube.

Despite being the most widely-used video-sharing site on the internet, much of the content on YouTube is not featured with the permission of the official copyright holders, a fact beginning to cause legality concerns at the world's largest search engine provider.

Part of any deal struck between Google and the likes of Time Warner, CBS and NBC Universal is expected to involve the company giving up a slice of online advertising revenue made via the YouTube site.

A Financial Times source revealed: "The fact is that in three to six months every media company's going to decide that their stuff gets taken down or that they get paid for it."

YouTube was founded in February 2005 and currently attracts around some 100 million viewers daily.