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YouTube Will Offer Full-Length MGM Shows And Films

Posted on: Monday, 10 November 2008, 11:10 CST

YouTube announced a new agreement on Monday with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer that will give the popular video-sharing site access to run full-length television shows and films.

The announcement comes as Google-owned YouTube tries to step up its programming to boost advertising revenue.

Other TV networks own content on YouTube, but until recently, most have been held back to short clips of ten minutes or less.

Among the first contributions from MGM will be classic episodes of the “American Gladiators” program.

On another channel, MGM will feature some of its action films, such as “Bulletproof Monk” and “The Magnificent Seven.”

YouTube has been experimenting with full-length shows for some months with Time Warner Inc's HBO and CBS's Showtime cable networks.

All MGM contributions to YouTube will be free to watch, with ads running alongside the videos.

The deal with MGM marks a new step for Google to try to make peace with members of Hollywood who have complained in the past about how clips of their movies and shows pop up on the video-sharing site without their permission.

Additionally, YouTube has also developed a system called VideoID. It allows media companies to spot unauthorized clips of their material on the site, and then either remove the clips or leave them up and sell ads on them.

“YouTube is essentially saying to media companies, ‘We are sorry for our past copyright stance; we weren’t thinking big enough. Let’s see how we can make some money together,’ ” said James L. McQuivey, an analyst at Forrester Research.

The new partnerships put YouTube in more direct competition with Hulu, the online video site owned by News Corp and General Electric's NBC Universal.

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On the Net:

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• MGM

Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports

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