March 16 (Bloomberg) -- Sumner Redstone is forging a love- hate relationship with YouTube.

As chairman of CBS Corp., he announced a deal yesterday to air clips of the ``March Madness'' basketball tournament on the Google Inc.-owned video-sharing site. In the same role at New York-based Viacom Inc., he sanctioned a $1 billion lawsuit against YouTube for airing television clips without consent.

``This is the paradox that Sumner Redstone has yet to explain,'' said Porter Bibb, managing partner at Mediatech Capital Partners.

CBS's embrace of the Internet under Chief Executive Officer Leslie Moonves contrasts with Viacom's struggle to develop a Web strategy more than a year after the companies split, Bibb said. Redstone, 83, replaced Viacom CEO Tom Freston with Philippe Dauman last year to jumpstart its Web business.

Shares of CBS have risen 26 percent since Redstone split the companies in January 2006. They rose 17 cents to $30.21 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Viacom fell 16 cents to $40.10 and is down 2.6 percent in that time.

``My understanding is that the deal that CBS has made with YouTube is not at all inconsistent with Viacom's position,'' Redstone said in a statement. ``CBS and Viacom are separate companies and should and do pursue their own destinies.''

Both want to be paid for programs, control distribution and have copyrights respected, Redstone said.

Rivaling YouTube

This week's NCAA men's college basketball championship underscores Moonves's conviction. CBS, the highest-rated TV network, has broadcast and Internet rights to the tournament and is putting 37 of the 65 games on NCAASports.com to attract viewers whose favorite teams aren't on local TV. It also has a channel on YouTube.

Shows such as ``CSI: Miami'' and the evening news hosted by Katie Couric are also on the Web.

Google, based in Mountain View, California, began selling episodes of CBS shows such as ``Survivor'' a year ago for $1.99. CBS began posting clips on YouTube in October, a month before the video-sharing site was bought by Google for $1.65 billion.

The YouTube relationship is ``of great value to us promotionally,'' Moonves, 57, said last week at a Bear Stearns Cos. conference. The CBS clips were the most widely viewed a month after going up on the site, YouTube said in January.

Viacom, owner of Comedy Central and MTV Networks, has redesigned its Ifilm.com Web site to combine user-made videos with clips of its own shows. The company reached a deal with file-sharing startup Joost.com last month that gives Viacom more control over its content.

While Dauman, 53, wants to generate $500 million in Internet-originated ad sales this year, CBS is on a faster track, Bibb said.

``CBS under Moonves has become a full-fledged, vertically integrated old and new media company,'' Bibb said. ``He's been very aggressive in just about every phase of the business, particularly taking a lead in trying to make the transition to digital.''

To contact the reporters on this story: Andy Fixmer in Los Angeles at afixmer@bloomberg.net; Leon Lazaroff in New York at llazaroff@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: March 16, 2007 16:06 EDT