YouTube pay channels get mixed reaction

YouTube, the online video site, is launching 50 pay channels in association with 30 content partners, with prices starting from 99 cents a month, in a move that has implications for advertisers, agencies and TV networks.

Viewers will be able to choose which channels they subscribe to, unlike the bundled model preferred by cable and satellite television, and the channels will decide themselves whether or not to show ads in their programming.

"YouTube shouldn't make the call whether a paid channel has ads or not," said Malik Ducard, YouTube's head of content partnerships. "The partners are smarter about their audience and their content than we are."

He added that YouTube was not attempting to compete with pay TV. "We think the two can coexist nicely," he stated.

The channels taking part in the pilot include Sesame Street, the children's program, Cars.TV, aimed at car enthusiasts, The Laugh Factory, a comedy channel, and UFC, a sports channel.

YouTube will keep around 45% of subscription revenue, with the rest going to the channel owners.

Reactions to the move were mixed. One channel creator said that many viewers were teenagers who would be unlikely to pay, while another observed that online video was about sharing which couldn't be done behind a paywall.