Google, which owns YouTube, signed a contract with a few media companies last Thursday to feature TV shows and movies on the Web site, according to an article in The New York Times. The merge is supposed to generate more advertising for YouTube, because it is not making enough money from its advertising on the user-generated content.
I saw the article in the Times and checked YouTube to see what was so different about the site. Currently, the homepage looks the same. It takes a little looking around to find the Shows and Movies categories – but they are there, and they are interesting.
Google signed up with CBS, Showtime and whatever networks own the rights to shows such as “Alf,” and movies such as “Carrie” and “Raw Spice: The Unofficial Story of the Making of the Spice Girls.”
I looked for something I might actually want to watch, and found “The Tudors,” a show about King Henry VIII and his various wives. I was quite excited, because I had no desire to watch “He-Man” or the 1990 version of “American Gladiators.”
But when I clicked on “The Tudors,” I was taken to a page that only displayed Season Three, Episode One as available. Well, that was better than nothing, so I clicked on it. Then, I watched a 30-second commercial for Showtime, then another 30-second commercial for Degree deodorant.
Finally, before the show began I was warned that the rating was TV-14 and if I wanted to watch a full, unedited version I had to order Showtime. Then the show began … sort of.
I got a few seconds into the “On the last episode of …” when the translucent spinning wheel of doom began. So, I hit the pause button and waited 20 minutes for 10 minutes worth of the show to load. I know … disappointing. But the quality of the video was very good and the entire 53 minutes and 30 seconds of the episode was ready to be watched.
I also rejoiced when I discovered that several episodes from the original “Star Trek” season were available, although “The Next Generation” was much better.
The new YouTube also allows you to “Turn down the lights,” which means the space surrounding the video goes dark, well, dim, except for the ad at the bottom, of course. But as of now, you can only turn down the lights on shows and movies.
I have been following two video bloggers, the Brotherhood 2.0, for some time now and they have expressed concern that the user-generated content of YouTube would be overtaken by the content that makes more profit. Google’s chief executive told the Times that “YouTube would continue to embrace content created by users” because that content is what makes the site popular.
YouTube may also start charging for some premium content. There is an option under “Subscriptions” to view purchased videos.
As long as there is still the “You” in YouTube, I am in favor of another way to procrastinate finishing my finals.
This is the last issue of The Collegian for the spring 2009 semester. We will see you in August.
Contact news editor Stephanie Rice at stephanie.rice@richmond.edu
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