Back in 2006, we said that YouTube As You Know It Is Dead, arguing that Google’s desire to make YouTube “legitimate” would kill off the site’s user-generated focus:

Google’s announcement places emphasis on the legal distribution of professionally produced content. “The combined companies will offer new opportunities for professional content owners to distribute their work to reach a vast new audience,” notes Google in its announcement.

With a $1.65 billion valuation, YouTube will have to regulate the use of traditionally copyrighted music and video in videos posted to the site. It’s also likely that mainstream ad-supported content will be featured prominently at the site, putting video bloggers in the same position that audio podcasters have found themselves in at the iTunes store.

It’s taken longer than we expected, but our prediction is starting to play out.

Google has announced a deal with MGM to feature full-length movies and videos on YouTube – a deal that puts a stake in the heart of YouTube as we know it.

YouTube will now show full-length television shows and films from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s archives. User-generated videos will be competing against full-length movies like Bulletproof Monk, Legally Blonde and The Magnificent Seven. YouTube already has a deal in place to run full-length CBS shows, including Star Trek, Young and the Restless and Beverly Hills 90210.

YouTube’s Most Viewed lists are already dominated by corporate content. This move will only make it harder for interesting user-generated content to get noticed at the site.