YouTube set to host full-length MGM movies

by Stevie Smith - Nov 11 2008, 13:00

Gradually moving away from a focus on user-created clips, video-sharing Web service YouTube is spreading its content wings after announcing it will soon be showing full-length movies provided by the Metro Goldwyn Mayer studio.

Designed to increase ad revenue for Google-owned YouTube and also its heavyweight Hollywood provider, the deal will result in the creation of “Impact,” a new and exclusive video-on-demand YouTube channel centring its content delivery on the distribution of action films, TV shows and other related MGM clips.

According to Jim Packer, co-president of MGM Worldwide Television, the power of YouTube’s 280 million users will likely see the deal “grow into a nice little business.”

“I think YouTube has something that a lot of sites don’t have,” commented Packer in a BBC News report. “They have a lot of people walking through their front door everyday. And if they are smart in how they grow this, YouTube should have a successful business also.”

Offered on the back of advertising revenue, the new channel will be free to view; however, that lack of charge will see its content punctuated with commercials. Also, regional rights issues mean that the service will only be available in the U.S. at launch. YouTube has apparently said it has plans to extend its reach at some point in the future.

Some of the MGM content set to be available through Impact includes classics clips taken from Rocky and The Magnificent Seven along with more modern movies such as Legally Blonde and Ronin. In terms of full-length movies, YouTube users will have access to the likes of Bulletproof Monk and Lone Wolfe McQuade.

“YouTube is committed to helping our community of fans discover new content and reconnect with their all time favourite TV shows and movies,” enthused Jordan Hoffner, director of content partnerships at YouTube. “By partnering with MGM, YouTube is strengthening its position as an entertainment destination where Hollywood studios can reach a global audience.”

Sadly for those James Bond fans hoping to revisit MGM’s spy classics via YouTube, the Hollywood studio has said the Bond archive is off limits, as are newly released movies or those only recently shown on TV.

The MGM deal arrives hot on the heels of a similar content agreement made between YouTube and American broadcasting behemoth CBS, which provides service users with download access to classic television shows such as the original Star Trek, MacGyver and Beverly Hills 90210.

In terms of future coverage, MGM has said it hopes to be in a position to offer up to 10 new YouTube channels within the next 18 months.

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