YouTube to Develop Pay-Per-View Movie Service

YouTube is rumored to be in talks with Hollywood to initiate a streaming pay-per-view movie service by the end of this year, The Financial Times has reported.

Reports reveal that the service will begin in the U.S and will then be launched globally. The decision will place Google’s YouTube in the competition to develop into the world’s favorite location for content distribution in the digital age with heavyweight competitors such as Netflix, Hulu, and Apple.

Hollywood is aware of the far reaching nature of YouTube and has estimated that new releases will cost approximately $5 on the streaming service.

In reference to the initiation, a spokesperson said, “Google and YouTube are a global phenomenon with a hell of a lot of eyeballs – more than any cable or satellite service... They’ve talked about how many people they could steer to this . . . it’s a huge number.”

Hollywood and YouTube have been negotiating for a number of months now, but decisions have only been made following digital heavyweights such as Pay-cable film network Epix announcing that they had consented to distribute Netflix Inc. with movies that can be viewed over the Internet from its partners.

In addition, Apple revealed this week that it will be developing its TV device and hopes to open the tool up to apps developers.

Sources:
The Hollywood Reporter
ABC News
FT