I'm posting this thread as I've just experienced yet another example of this.

(The show in this case is http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xkd4xy_russia-s-toughest-prisons-documentary-2011_shortfilms)

I am 100% certain some of the soundtracks used in this show is from the game http://store.steampowered.com/app/24790/
Other examples of video game music used in tv is the soundtrack for Command & Conquer: Generals being used in some video about the making of the movie 'Avatar' (sorry no link).

I'm not complaining about the use, but I just find it a little funny whenever it's noticed.
If you have any similar experiences or feel like adding anything then by all means do so.

Sometimes video game music might double as licensed music elsewhere, but I think this is very rare. More common is that many tracks will have pre-fabricated musical loops and phrases from sample libraries. This is extremly common among composers for TV, film and video games when they have a set deadline and can't find the time/can't be arsed to create a full score from scratch, so they will rely a great deal on readily available, royalty-free prefab libraries. I know for a fact that C&C Generals in particular makes heavy use of these libraries. Most of the composition effort seems to have gone to the USA soundtrack, while China and GLA are made mostly out of prefabs. After browsing through numerous sample libraries myself, I found much of the source material used for the music in that game.

Yep. Two games I've noticed that use a lot of these are Resident Evil 4 and Final Fantasy X-2. Just very, very bland music. There isn't any strict copyright protection on it, so anybody can use it.

The USA Battle theme 1 was used for http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jW4tSze5y8Y.

I've heard the police radio clips from Grand Theft Auto 2 used in about 3 or 4 different movies and in 2 TV shows.

Can't remember them all, but one of the movies was Inside Job, I believe, and the shows were one of the Law and Order shows and Reno 911. They always use it in Reno 911.

i loved that game. my mom hated violent video games but i was always able to play them because she had terrible perspective of what was going on based on what she watched me do.

like golden axe when i was 6, she thought the game was just a group of friends going on a hike XD

I could have sworn I briefly heard the http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzTzH6kpqZI from Battlefield 2142 in a commercial for a show's new episodes. I don't remember what the show was, but I know heard the song. 2142 is my favourite Battlefield so I recognised it instantly.