MySpace and Auditude have rolled out an innovative solution to the problem of people posting pirated television show snippets on the internet.

Auditude technology automatically identifies user-posted segments of shows, then weaves in advertising for copyright owners and tells viewers whose program they are watching.

Instead of copyright holders chasing down television show video posted on MySpace pages and then demanding clips be removed in accordance with US law, they can let internet users be delivery channels complete with advertising.

US-based Auditude has spent four years "fingerprinting" television broadcasts to enable its software to instantly identify online snippets of shows that have aired, Auditude chief executive Adam Cahan said.