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YouTube Adds Full-Length Television Shows

Posted by timothy on from the what-about-magnum-pi-and-square-pegs? dept.

thefickler writes "YouTube has moved to put full-length television shows on its site for the first time. Historically, YouTube has hosted a bewildering and attractive variety of video clips, the vast majority of which have been under ten minutes in length. YouTube has announced that it had finalized a deal with CBS to offer shows such as Star Trek, MacGyver, Beverly Hills 90210, and The Young and the Restless. I can't wait to watch The Young and the Restless!"

13 of 197 comments (clear)

  1. Still using Flash by Daengbo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'd like to see Google switch over to the video tag and a free codec. That would make everything perfect.

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    Put identity in the browser.
    1. Re:Still using Flash by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      I don't disagree that I would like to see that happen, but think about it from the perspective from someone who works at GooTube and wants to keep that job: would it really make sense to switch to a brand-new standard only supported by [let's be generous] 25% of the market?

      Ok, you may respond, why not maintain two parallel versions of the site: one for legacy users and one for browsers that support the new standards? And to that I say, it's a little bit hard to go to management and ask for the resources and time to implement a second parallel version of a service that already works splendidly well.

      I would be just as happy as you if YouTube started offering video streams in other formats and other access methods. Until they do, though, I'll continue watching their FLV streams directly with VLC. The newly-released 0.9.2 even has a Lua scriptlet specifically designed to allow you to drop a YouTube URL directly into the playlist.

      Not good, but good enough. At least you don't need Flash.

  2. As a non-american... by Tx · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...Hulu sucks, since it won't stream outside the USA. No mention in the article as to whether YouTube will add regional restrictions on these full-length shows, but let's hope they can convince the studios otherwise. If not, well, bittorrent works just fine.

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    Oh no... it's the future.
    1. Re:As a non-american... by Sockatume · · Score: 5, Informative

      This is region-locked the US also.

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      No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
    2. Re:As a non-american... by kentrel · · Score: 5, Informative

      Youtube offer better-than-TV resolution. Check out their high-quality option, which you can view full screen.

    3. Re:As a non-american... by Tx · · Score: 5, Informative

      Hate replying to my myself, but went to find one of these full-length Trek episodes, clicked on it: "This video is not available in your country". So much for that.

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      Oh no... it's the future.
    4. Re:As a non-american... by EvilMonkeySlayer · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Don't be so obtuse.

      If you haven't noticed the BBC isn't ad sponsored, it's UK license fee paid. How are they meant to cover the costs of international streaming? Youtube does streaming of their video internationally paid for by advertising with a well built back-end that can handle it.

      Comparing the BBC's iPlayer license fee paid service to the ad-sponsored Youtube is like comparing Apples and Oranges.

  3. What Next? by nicknamenottaken · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I think it is a smart idea to have star trek on youtube to compensate for the rest of the proposed garbage listed in the story. Hopefully the trend of 1 in 4 television shows on youtube not being garbage will continue.

    1. Re:What Next? by White+Flame · · Score: 5, Funny

      Wait a sec, you're calling MacGyver "garbage" on a nerd website?

  4. Region-locking is an abomination. by EWAdams · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's called the WORLD WIDE Web, assholes.

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    I piss off bigots.
    1. Re:Region-locking is an abomination. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      So if they used a medium of delivery beyond HTTP, you'd be happy with it? Or would it just ruin your witty one-liner?

      Seriously, just because licensing agreements haven't yet caught up with the global nature of the Internet doesn't mean we should disparage the positive steps being made in the direction of having content available on the Internet AT ALL.

  5. CBS only? by themightythor · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The shows and their original networks:

    Star Trek: NBC
    MacGyver: ABC
    BH 90210: Fox
    Y & R: CBS

    I guess I don't understand how these things work...

  6. US-ONLY! :( by Spy+der+Mann · · Score: 5, Informative

    So, this means I won't have to pirate the videos to watch my favorite shows?

    Think again.

    "This video is not available in your country."

    Oh well, at least I know a site that DOES let me play the videos in my country - and without ads.