CNET
News reports that YouTube will begin offering feature films produced by at
least one of the biggest Hollywood movie studios possibly as early as next
month, according to an executive with a major entertainment company. For months,
Google, YouTube's parent company, has been talking to the major film companies
about launching an ad-supported, streaming movie service, two execs with
knowledge of the negotiations told CNET News. "It's not imminent," said one of
the executives. "But it's going to happen. I would say you can expect to see it,
if all goes well, sometime within the next 30 to 90 days." To be sure, not all
the studios are prepared to give YouTube full-length movies. Canadian film
company Lionsgate agreed in July to give YouTube access to only short movie
clips. At least one other studio is trying to cut a similar deal for short-form
content with Google, said a separate high-level industry insider. Google
declined to discuss specifics, but a company spokeswoman issued this statement:
"We are in negotiations with a variety of entertainment companies. Our goal is
to offer maximum choice for our users, partners, and advertisers."
What is certain is that YouTube's original hope of building a behemoth business
exclusively around short, homemade videos is, to this point at least, a bust.
The company captured the world's imagination by showcasing 10-minute long
user-generated videos but the strategy hasn't yielded much in the way of
profits. Three years later, the company is turning to professionally made
content.