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Sony Pictures in Talks With YouTube

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the slowly-coaxing-execs-into-the-future dept.

CNet is reporting that Sony Pictures may be in talks with YouTube to license full length movies to the video sharing site. Set to post nearly a half a billion dollars in losses this year, YouTube could certainly use some juice to combat sites like NBC-owned Hulu which already has an array of movies for streaming. "Details about what a final agreement could look like are sparse, but any partnership between the two powerhouses would likely benefit both. Representatives from both companies declined to comment. Word of the negotiations comes a week after Disney announced it had licensed short-form content to YouTube. Those clips will come from a range of Disney brands, including ABC and ESPN. For YouTube, obtaining short-form clips from Disney is an important step but still doesn't provide what YouTube needs most."

13 of 84 comments (clear)

  1. Doubtlessly, the pickings therein... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...will make the most mediocre offerings on Netflix instant viewing seem absolutely stellar by comparison.

  2. YouTube nearly bankrupt? by commodore64_love · · Score: 4, Interesting

    >>>Set to post nearly a half a billion dollars in losses this year

    Youtube is the most-popular video site. It should be making hand-over-fist in dollars. How can this be?

    --
    "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
    1. Re:YouTube nearly bankrupt? by Karganeth · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Maybe it's because nobody purchases anything from YouTube.

    2. Re:YouTube nearly bankrupt? by Albanach · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Youtube is the most-popular video site. It should be making hand-over-fist in dollars. How can this be?

      It's because youtube typically has no adverts on user submitted videos. If google made money off of copyright material they'd be looking at big lawsuits. So they typically only have advertising on licensed content. They need more deals like the one suggested to deliver more advertising revenue.

    3. Re:YouTube nearly bankrupt? by Red+Flayer · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Youtube is the most-popular video site. It should be making hand-over-fist in dollars. How can this be?

      Being most-popular is not an advantage when no one has figured out how to profit from it. Most-popular means highest costs in bandwidth, servers, etc.

      Ad spend is shrinking globally. How exactly is YouTube going to make money when everyone and their dog uses their servers and bandwidth for free?

      Reminds me of the dotcom boom... sure, we're losing money on every transaction, but we'll make up for it in volume.

      --
      "Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
    4. Re:YouTube nearly bankrupt? by Cassius+Corodes · · Score: 4, Informative

      Prolly the bandwidth. From the universal repository of knowledge that is wikipedia "n March 2008, YouTube's bandwidth costs were estimated at approximately US$1 million a day".

      --
      Control is an illusion, order our comforting lie. From chaos, through chaos, into chaos we fly
    5. Re:YouTube nearly bankrupt? by Feminist-Mom · · Score: 4, Interesting

      That makes sense. Added to the cost of the zillion employees they have to comb the thing for video that need to be taken down, or at least to write the software. And the constant legal issues. Throw in just the machines, and now I see that is reasonable as a loss, esp. that they don't sell anything. On the other hand everyone I know generally uses it as a first choice. Maybe in a few years it will make money. Remember the (good?) old days when Amazon didn't show a profit for years?

  3. I just had a look at Hulu by Mystery00 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I just had a look at Hulu and got this:

    We're sorry, currently our video library can only be streamed within the United States.

    Google combating who? The only competition is torrent.

    --
    "we've got trenchcoats and bad attitudes" - John Constantine, HellBlazer
    1. Re:I just had a look at Hulu by Red+Flayer · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Google combating who? The only competition is torrent.

      Google combating the licensors of the content, who wish their distribution channels in non-US markets to remain free of easy, legal online competition. Pandora has the same issue with streaming audio.

      Hulu competes with bt for content delivery, but is also competes with DVDs, VHS, movie theaters, etc. That last one is pretty important -- many movies are just hitting theaters overseas when DVDs or online distribution is released to the US market.

      --
      "Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
  4. YouTube isn't a Company by MrNonchalant · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Let's be clear. YouTube isn't set to post anything, let alone a loss. Google as a whole will post huge profits again, albeit below last year, and that will be that.

  5. And the players line up.... by GPLDAN · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Sony Playstation 3 firmware upgrade added the link-in to Youtube during the last upgrade. Anyone who DIDN'T see this coming was blind.

    Sony and it's empire vs. Microsoft and Disney and ABC on the other. Paramount is on the Hulu/Xbox side, owning NBC which really started moving so much of its stuff to Hulu, all the SNL episodes and lots of its archive stuff.

    This fight will expand to be a USA vs. the world thing. If I am over at Google/Youtube my strategy is to take licensing outside the states. Get international content exclusive to Youtube with the Playstation tie in. Get broadband deals done with the major providers in Europe. Isolate the Hulu guys to providing US content only.

    Content is king, and it's like suddenly everyone realized the general public couldn't do it. There are only so many videos of your guild's Epic WoW raid or cats flushing toilets that will hold an ad revenue stream in place.

    Sony can really break the Hulu grip if they eschew any embedded commercials in the video streams. Grab Fox Studios and maybe Lionsgate, get New Line Cinema and it's game over.

    Should be interesting...

  6. Re:See no evil by MicktheMech · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It would be more like hating the government in general. I believe they call themselves libertarians.

  7. Signs by Nerdfest · · Score: 3, Funny

    Isn't Sony being consumer friendly one of the signs of the coming apocalypse? I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to start hoarding food and weapons.