User-generated content (that is non-professionally produced videos) will no longer be a feature on internet TV service Brightcove after December 18.

Writing in a blog post, Brightcove CEO Jeremy Alliare said the aspect of the site that allows users to upload and share personal videos will cease to exist from this date.

“While the consumer-facing Brightcove.TV website has been popular… it has been dwarfed by the adoption of our internet TV platform by media businesses around the world,” he said.

Some commenting on the post accuse the service as ‘selling out’, while others say this will release funds diverted to the consumer service that can be re-invested in Brightcove’s partnerships with smaller businesses.

The change by Brightcove is the same made by internet TV platform Mania TV back in October, which according to a piece on the Editors Weblog showed that professionally produced content from media organisations will win out against UGC in the long term.

Brightcove and Mania’s decisions suggest that UGC, in terms of video, may not be as significant a threat to reporters as has been previously argued. As the article on the weblog states, Mania closed its doors to UGC “because the site realized that there was little demand for UGC on what is supposed to be a site revolving around professionally produced entertainment.”

While content produced and submitted by users may provide useful supplementary material for a news story in the way of raw, first-hand footage, for more investigative and in-depth reporting, professionally produced content will still hold more value, argues the weblog.

But does the branding of a news site on video content ensure its quality or are there examples of content submitted by users that have outdone their professional rivals?