 Google recently introduced free full movies channel service with a catalog of over 400 movies on YouTube. And now, the search giant is planning to bring blockbuster Hollywood movies with its pay-per-view subscription service. Financial Times reported (need to login) that YouTube video sharing site is in talks with several leading Hollywood studios since several months.
YouTube's plans sound similar to the recently introduced Hulu Plus Ad-supported subscription service for streaming TV shows. Nevertheless, users will be able stream full movies which may or may not have Google ads in between. As always is the case, this new service might start off first in U.S. and then made available to rest of the world. FT also reported that users could pay as low as $5 to stream new movies.
New movies would be available for streaming on YouTube when they're released on DVD and also available through with Amazon plus Apple's iTunes service. YouTube has been pursuing several Hollywood studios since months. Only after recent rife in Apple TV launch rumours with $1 TV Show rentals to the living room, the search giant seems to be pushing harder.
It's no secret that Google has been trying to stay abreast of other services in terms of multimedia distribution - be it photos (Picasa) or videos (YouTube). The recent buzz seems to be hinting at the fact that Google is planning to make it big in multimedia distribution of movies and games. We won't be surprised to see movie rentals on Android phones. Till date, YouTube has been renting out a couple of independent movie titles. So if Hollywood studios give a green flag to streaming HD movies via YouTube, it's the users who're at the winning side. Still, we wait for the big daddy - Google to confirm this news officially.
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