YouTube Eyes Pay Model for Movies

SAN FRANCISCO: YouTube is said to be in negotiations with the major Hollywood studios about charging users to view full-length movies on the popular file-sharing site.

According to the New York Times, YouTube has been in discussions with Lionsgate, Sony and Warner Bros. about the option of delivering feature-length movies on the site for a fee. In a statement, YouTube said: “While we don’t comment on rumor and speculation, we hope to expand both on our great relationships with movie studios and on the selection and types of videos we offer our community.”

YouTube is the market leader in the online content space; in July, it recorded some 8.9 billion videos viewed, 42 percent of all online videos viewed that month. The studios are said to be keen to share their movie titles on the site, but issues that need to be resolved include pricing and the timing of the availability of new releases, in relation to the DVD street date.