YouTube may charge for Channel 4, Five content

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Christine

16 December, 2009

Google video platform YouTube is considering charging for content from Channel 4 and Channel Five through a subscription offer system. This is one of the possibilities for Google to generate revenue from this content.

VIDEO VIEWING and sharing platform, YouTube belonging to Google may soon start charging users in UK for access to new TV shows and films online, if a senior Google executive is to be believed. This subscription offer like policy is being rumoured, after two major UK broadcasters - Channel 4 and Channel Five inked deals with YouTube to provide their full length programmes on the Google website.

In a recent interview, Google executive David Eun, responsible for other media partnerships, talked about charges and a subscription offer for the content provided by broadcasters, as a suitable option for the company. He said,"We're making some interesting bets on long-form content; not all content is accessible to us with the advertising model."

Till now, Google and its various products have been offered to consumers for free, with the search engine giant making money off advertising deals. While the deal with Channel 4 came through in October, the one with Channel Five was inked recently. The two broadcasters are still engaged in talks with YouTube provider Google to come up with a revenue model and have discussed both an advertisement based revenue model and a subscription offer based revenue model.

The subscription offer based model may work like a pay per view one, like that used by Apple iTunes store or Amazon on demand videos.

Google chief executive Eric Schmidt has earlier said that making money from YouTube is a "top priority". Although the video sharing website is used by millions of people every day, it is finding it tough to cash on this number, as YouTube places advertisements on viral videos and other user generated content, which may or may not be that sucessful.