Andre Yoskowitz
1 Dec 2009 16:15
According to new reports, Google is negotiating with the media industry to stream individual TV episodes via YouTube, for a fee.
YouTube currently has TV shows available, for free, with advertisements, but it appears as if Google wants to expand the business model into flat-rate video playback with no commercials. The episodes will cost $1.99 USD each and will be available the day after they broadcast.
The sources say negotiations are still in preliminary stages but that both sides "seem optimistic," especially given YouTube's gigantic market share in the streaming video market.
Google may face a problem with the new model, however. Viewers will only get to stream the show, and not download it to their computers to keep forever. The pricing remains exactly the same though. The media execs cite studies that show that most people that download TV episodes only watch them once, but clearly there are people who want to keep it to watch it over and over. I mean, why else would they pay for it?
We will keep you updated.