YouTube Officially Launches Paid Channels
 

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If you want to watch videos from certain YouTube channels, you're going to have to pay up.

As expected, the Google-owned video-sharing site on Thursday launched paid channels as part of a new pilot program that gives content creators a new way to earn revenue from their videos. There are currently 53 paid channels participating in the pilot, including National Geographic Kids, UFC Select, and British TV provider Acorn TV.

All paid channels offer a 14-day free trial, but users will need to pay a subscription fee to keep watching beyond that period. Subscription fees start at $0.99 per month, though it appears most paid channels are priced higher than that.

The UFC Select channel, for instance, is priced at $5.99 per month and provides access to full event replays, classic fights, and full episodes of UFC shows such as UFC Unleashed. Sesame Street is also planning to launch a paid channel offering full episodes, according to YouTube.

"Today, there are more than 1 million channels generating revenue on YouTube, and one of the most frequent requests we hear from these creators behind them is for more flexibility in monetizing and distributing content," the YouTube team wrote in a blog post.

Once you purchase a subscription to a paid channel, you'll be able to watch the videos on your computer, phone, tablet, and TV. At this point you can only subscribe to channels from a computer, but you'll soon be able to do so from other devices.

"This is just the beginning," YouTube said. "We'll be rolling paid channels out more broadly in the coming weeks as a self-service feature for qualifying partners."

Rumors about such a service began swirling in late January, pointing to subscription-based access to certain YouTube channels, which would cost between $1 and $5 a month, and be created by media outlets that already have large followings.

:mad::mad:

Total bullshit a company would want to make money on content not stolen!!!

Mm. It'd be a good idea if Youtube was the streaming platform it was 2 years ago. Sadly, I find myself using it less and less with constant bugs and issues related to the streaming itself and the general design.

I doubt I'll support any producer on the platform while Youtube still has these issues.

Fuck YouTube and Google.

I don't pay, I get paid:2 cents::winkwink:

I like the idea of people paying to access content.

Go Google.

Funny that they want you to pay for this on their own site, but list torrents, file shares and movie streaming sites without a problem.

Good move, more of this please.

Well, perhaps, in time, they might see that some of their policies might be hitting their bottom line...............maybe.

:2 cents::thumbsup:2 cents:

i'm sure they'll have worked that out by the time everyone else is out of buisness

The other day it was announced that Dreamworks paid $33 million for a network of Youtube channels known as Awesomeness TV.

I think we are starting to see some glimpses of what the future is going to be.

:thumbsup

be interesting (hilarious) to see mainstream tubes using the dmca laws to show content they don't own, and outranking youtube in the serps because 'thats what surfers want'. Then after the traffic grab is complete, 'go legal' and 'work with' 'content partners' once the 'innovation' is complete.

somehow I don't think that'll ever happen though :upsidedow

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The above is just a wry view, given up on any tube hating long ago. They won, we didn't, adapt or die etc :)

i will not seat on that :)

gonna fail big time.

If you take a look at the over all business model, adult has failed.

We went from charging the customer and now we give it away from free.

TV went from being free (advertiser supported) to us paying for Cable TV (without ads), to us paying for cable (with ads). Now.... Not only do we pay for cable TV and Internet, but we also pay for Amazon, Hulu, and soon YouTube...