Mountain View, California — Google’s YouTube video-sharing website is in discussion with Hollywood’s leading movie studios to unfold a global pay-per-view video service that could be introduced by the end of the year, thrusting it head-to-head with Apple in the race to dominate the digital distribution of film and television content, the Financial Times reported on.
Quoting people familiar with the matter, the newspaper said the new service is likely to first launch in the United States, followed by other countries over time.
As a matter of fact, Google has been evidently attempting to enter the movie rental business for quite a long time now. Last year in early September, the company was said to be in talks with major movie studios such as Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., Sony Corp., and Warner Bros. Negotiations clearly have taken longer than expected.
Google and YouTube “discussed about how many people they could steer to this … it is a huge number,” the newspaper quoted an executive with knowledge of the plans as saying.
Viewers would stream films on the site and pay about $5 for newer titles, the FT article said.
Google has been luring the studios on the international appeal of a streaming, on-demand movie service pegged to the world’s most popular search engine and YouTube, according to several people with knowledge of the situation.
So far, Google has been renting films on YouTube since late January of this year as part of a trial. However, these films have either been Hollywood classics or indie films. The films would become available at the same time as their release on DVD and on Apple’s iTunes store and Amazon.com, it added.
When it comes to prices, Financial Times reports that Google is intending to charge approximately $5 for new titles, which is hard to believe — given that movies will be streamed, and unable to download. Currently, the company charges between $1.99 and $3.99 for its small selection of movies, most of which are old or unknown titles.
The paper said negotiations have been ongoing for months, but have taken on a new importance in recent weeks as Apple is expected this week to unveil developments to its TV service.
Now, by offering the latest flicks, the video-sharing site would be in direct competition with both Apple iTunes movie store and Netflix. The rentals will also pair nicely with the upcoming Google TV.