Pay-per-view services on the horizon for YouTube

By siliconindia   |   Monday, 30 August 2010, 21:12 IST
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Bangalore: YouTube is all set to flex some Hollywood muscle by the end of year. Still wondering how? Well Google is in talks with leading Hollywood studios to launch a global pay-per-view video service on YouTube by the end of 2010. This move by Google will put it in competition with Apple in their bid to be ahead in digital film and television content distribution. Google has been negotiating with studio giants to stream their movies from catalogs. The service, which is likely to be launched first in U.S., will make use of Google's search technology to direct viewers to it. Other countries will get the service in due course of time. Sources in the know of Google's plans said that the movie streaming service is expected to be billed at $5 per view. Although Google has been behind this service for many months now, the priority has increased in the recent weeks. This can be attributed to movements made by its competitors. While Apple is mulling improvements in its TV device, Netflix, the film subscription company, is aggressively acquiring digital rights to movies for its streaming service. On the other hand, Walt Disney's online video site, Hulu, which is co-owned by News Corp and NBC Universal, is planning to go public with an IPO of $2 billion. This is also an opportunity for Hollywood as the pay-per-view online service will add a way of revenue, at a time when the DVD sales are seeing a steep decline.