YouTube In Talks To Offer Full-Length Hollywood Movies
By Anna Johnson on September 3rd, 2009The New York Times reports that Google owned YouTube, is negotiating the rights to allow visitors to pay to watch full-length Hollywood movies on its site.
Based on reports from two people close to the negotiations, YouTube is talking with Lionsgate Entertainment, Sony and Warner Brothers about making recent films available on YouTube.
YouTube has responded to the leaked news (originally published on The Wall Street Journal website) by saying that while it doesn’t ‘comment on rumor and speculation’ it hopes ‘to expand both on our great relationships with movie studios and on the selection and types of videos we offer our community.’
Warner Brothers and Sony Pictures have declined to comment while Lionsgate has said it is ‘always exploring alternatives’ to help it derive more revenues from its movies.
Apparently the only issues remaining to be resolved are pricing and the timing of movie releases on YouTube. If the deals go ahead, YouTube will undoubtedly become much more attractive to advertisers, which will help it on the path towards profitability. The deals will also cement YouTube’s vast lead over all things online video, now including premium online video.
Finally, if YouTube reaches agreement with Lionsgate Entertainment, Sony and Warner Brothers the major U.S. television networks may be inspired to reconsider their reluctance to offer premium content to Google. In particular, NBC, Fox and Disney have, to date, focused on providing their joint venture website, Hulu, with free television shows and movies. But if a significant portion of their audience is watching Sony, Warner and Lionsgate movies on YouTube, NBC, Fox and Disney may want to hedge their bets by providing more premium content to Google as well…
September 4th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
Why not, charge something to watch movies on your computers, it soon is going to be the new age of the future. Which means that TV’s are going to be a thing of the past. Look the newspaper is on it way to becoming a thing of the past. More news can travel around the world in seconds, instead of hours. Computers are the way to go. That is our future right now.
September 4th, 2009 at 7:50 pm
You got it Nancee!