Should we worry about the increasing power of YouTube? There are dozens of ways to watch video online, but the unavoidable site – now part of the Google empire – exerts astonishing dominance over the medium.

This week it was revealed that YouTube has reached an agreement with Paramount Pictures to screen movies in the US and Canada. Of the six major Hollywood studios, only 20th Century Fox has yet to sign on the line with YouTube.

“Paramount Pictures is one of the biggest movie studios on the planet,” Malik Ducard, director of content partnerships at YouTube, told the Los Angeles Times. “We’re thrilled to bring nearly 500 of their movies in the US and Canada on YouTube and Google Play.”

Until relatively recently, the studios have used only the longest spoon when supping with YouTube. After all, one of the site’s original draws was dubiously sourced archival footage. The move by the studios suggests that those days are seen to be over.

Disputes do, however, still take place. Ironically, the US Court of Appeals recently ruled that YouTube must answer a case from Viacom Inc – the very company that owns Paramount Pictures – for allowing its customers to post clips from Viacom’s television shows. YouTube (returning to a strategy it has long followed) argued it was protected from liability because it removed infringing videos when notified. The two-judge panel disagreed.

How fitting that The Godfather should be a Paramount flick. “Keep your friends close,” Don Corleone said. “But keep your enemies closer.”