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Google reportedly looking to pilot premium movie service in the UK

by Scott Bicheno on 25 February 2011, 14:18

Tags: Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), YouTube (NASDAQ:GOOG)

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Streaming news

Having applauded Google's apparent desire to lower the prominence of derivative content, sometimes we decide a single, unverified report is worth bringing to your attention due to its potential, if true.

The New York Post has published a story claiming Google is looking to launch a premium movie streaming service on YouTube, citing executives who have been briefed on the matter as its source. Furthermore, the UK appears to be the front-runner as the location for a pilot of the service.

This news, if true, isn't a complete surprise. Apart from the fact that Google, via YouTube, clearly sees Internet video as a major part of its business, it dipped its toe in the movie streaming game last summer with the launch of YouTube Movies - a free service.

But this new service will require a subscription, and will thus compete directly with LoveFilm, which was recently acquired by Amazon. The other big player in this market right now is US company Netflix.

The NYP story claims the project is being headed-up by Robert Kyncl, who joined Google from Netflix last September. The search giant has apparently set aside $100 million to strike deals with content providers. It has got no confirmation from Google, nor have we seen any other independent reports on this matter, so this needs to be treated with caution for now.

 



HEXUS Forums :: 2 Comments

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If true, this would put the search giant in direct competition with Amazon and Netflix.
This would also put them up against Apple TV surely plus, of course, Sky Box Office and Virgin's Film Flex offerings?

Seems like a natural move to me - all that video delivery expertise. But I'll reserve judgement whether it's a good move or not until I've seen a bit more detail. Like pricing obviously, whether it's a buy-film-and-watch-it-once deal, if a dedicated (DRM'd!) client is needed or whether it'd work on anything with the bandwidth that can support YouTube (e.g. Internet TV's like the Sony Bravia I've got).

Got to say that if the Goog do dive in then surely that'll push the prices down.
crossy
This would also put them up against Apple TV surely plus, of course, Sky Box Office and Virgin's Film Flex offerings?

Seems like a natural move to me - all that video delivery expertise. But I'll reserve judgement whether it's a good move or not until I've seen a bit more detail. Like pricing obviously, whether it's a buy-film-and-watch-it-once deal, if a dedicated (DRM'd!) client is needed or whether it'd work on anything with the bandwidth that can support YouTube (e.g. Internet TV's like the Sony Bravia I've got).

Got to say that if the Goog do dive in then surely that'll push the prices down.

No argument there - I just focused specifically on the web-based ones.