YouTube has launched a trial scheme for paid channels on its website.
Under the pilot programme, a small number of content makers will offer the channels for subscriptions starting at $0.99 (£0.64) a month.
Each channel will offer a free 14-day trial and many will have discounted annual rates.
Although the initial 53-channel line-up is fairly niche, one expert suggested the move might ultimately squeeze some smaller rivals out of the market.
YouTube, which is owned by Google, said the launch was part of an effort to enable “content creators to earn revenue for their creativity”.
For example, the children’s television favourite, Sesame Street will offer full episodes on its pay channel when it launches.
Subscribers can pay using either their credit cards or through Google’s own Wallet service.
The paid channels involved in the pilot are diverse.
They include National Geographic Kids, Acorn – which provides episodes from several British TV series -and Fix My Hog Premium, which is aimed at Harley Davidson motorcycle enthusiasts.
“This is just the beginning”, YouTube said on its blog.
“We’ll be rolling paid channels out more broadly in the coming weeks as a self-service feature for qualifying partners.
“And as new channels appear, we’ll be making sure you can discover them.” …
via BBC News – YouTube launches pay-to-watch subscription channels.
I stopped watching YouTube when they started putting ads up. This is a great opportunity for someone to start up a new free alternative to YouTube. Below are 25 YouTube alternatives, one of which has a video of a really cool green bicycle:
If you’d like to set up your own video sharing site, here are my criteria for a good one:
#1: Your site must show thumbnails of your shared videos FIRST THING –no sign up or upload required first– otherwise you lose, I’m GONE. (There are a huge number of these loser sites.)
#2: If your video sharing site says anything about fees, you lose, I’m gone.
#3: If the first video I click on won’t load or worse, is a fake leading to an ad, you lose, I’m never coming back and now you aren’t in my list below visible seen by up to 5,000 visitors to this blog per day. 
(Note: Sites come and go. I found many in my search tonight that are now defunct. If you are viewing this after May 2013, a few of these may be broken links or may have been sold to someone unsavory. Browse at your own risk.)
If you have any good addition not in the list below, leave it in a comment. No porn sites please. These are YouTube alternatives where you can post your own (generally Safe For Work) videos and see videos from other people like you.
- http://blip.tv/
- http://www.vimeo.com
- http://www.dailymotion.com
- http://www.ustream.tv/new
- http://www.blinkx.com/
- http://www.hulu.com/
- http://www.metacafe.com/
- http://www.flickr.com/
- http://www.veoh.com/
- http://www.viddler.com/
- http://www.videojug.com/
- http://teachertube.com/
- http://www.academicearth.org/
- http://www.howstuffworks.com/
- http://www.liveleak.com/
- http://www.clickplay.tv/
- http://www.ebaumsworld.com/
- http://www.myspace.com/video
- http://www.myvideo.co.za/
- http://www.rottentomatoes.com/
- http://www.tubewatcher.tv
- http://www.clipmoon.com/
- http://www.viddy.com/
- http://share.wpxi.com/
- http://video.tagged.com/
