/ 12.01.2009 12:00AM
Google Seeks to Stream TV Shows for a Fee
SAN BRUNO, CALIF.: Google is courting TV networks to run shows on
YouTube for a fee, according to All
Things D. YouTube is also in talks with the movie industry about renting
full-length films, and the user-generated video Web site recently cut a deal
with Univision to stream that network’s Spanish-language content. Content under
the Univision deal is free to users. YouTube is floating the Apple/Amazon model
of a small fee per show, ATD said.
The difference would be that YouTube would stream the programs as opposed to
offering them for download.
One obstacle is the networks’ concerns that streaming might undermine the
download business, so YouTube might develop a business based on less popular
programs that don’t appear anywhere else.
YouTube would also have to compete with Hulu, the free content site run by News
Corp., NBC Universal and Disney, which is expected to launch a subscription
service. Comcast is also building TV Everywhere to make shows available online
and on demand.
Peter Kafka of All Things D has more here.
More on YouTube:
November
17, 2009: “Unvision Will Post
Full-Length Shows on YouTube”
The deal represents Univision’s first online foray outside if its own Web
sites, and one of the first major broadcast networks to provide long-form
programming to YouTube.