August 30, 2010

YouTube in talks with studios on global ppv service (FT)

By Wiretap Staff

YouTube is in talks with the major studios to launch a global pay per view video service by the end of 2010, The Financial Times reports. You Tube owner Google has been pitching the studios on the international appeal of a streaming, on-demand movie service pegged to the world's most popular search engine and YouTube, the newspaper says.

The service is likely to launch first in the US, with other countries added over time, sources told the paper.

"Google and YouTube are a global phenomenon with a hell of a lot of eyeballs -- more than any cable or satellite service," said one executive with knowledge of the plans. "They've talked about how many people they could steer to this...it's a huge number."

Negotiations have taken on greater urgency in recent weeks, as competition heats up between media and technology companies over the digital delivery of film and TV programming. Apple is expected to unveil improvements to its TV device this week while Netflix is acquiring digital rights to movies for its streaming service and Hulu is planning a $2 billion IPO.

The Google project would see viewers stream rather than download films and pay about $5 for newer titles. The movies would be available at the same time as their DVD release.