In a blog post, YouTube announced that it’s launching a pilot program that will allow some of its partners to charge subscription fees for channels starting at $1 per month. Pay-to-view YouTube channels have been rumoured in some form or another for a while, and payments themselves certainly aren’t new to Google’s video service. You’ve been able to pay for video rentals and season subscriptions since last year.
The pilot program’s early partners include the UFC and Sesame Street. Each of the channels will come with a 14-day free trial, and in some cases there will be discounted pricing for yearly subscription. According to the post, paid channels will roll out as a “self-service” feature for many of YouTube’s partners.
For now, it looks like the paid channels already on board are looking at offering you premium access to rerun content, but if these subscriptions turn out to be popular, you could totally see them start to offer exclusive content to subscribers. [YouTube]