YouTube Paid Subscriptions Begin

YouTube paid subscriptions have begun.

It seems paid video feed has gone a step further today. Movie and TV hosting is nothing new to the internet, with Netflix and Amazon Video, and now YouTube has taken a leap into seeing how it can make more money off its services.

YouTube won’t be taking on the bigger video hosting subscription sites just yet, but it may just be planning on it eventually. Starting with only a few channels for now, Jim Henson Family TV and Ultimate Fighting Championship among them, it is unclear just how far they eventually plan to push the paid subscriptions. If they keep it moderate, we may be able to watch regular or original TV shows for a monthly fee in the future.

This could also go very wrong as well, as they start charging you for the subscriptions you already have. Such would be worrisome, as if you have an Android account, they can easily just prompt you to pay and it’s already set up. We can only hope they don’t start charging for all of those channels that we’ve been enjoying for free.

This is an interesting new addition to YouTube’s already profitable video hosting site, as it already makes plenty of money on Partner channels such as sxephil and ShaneDawsonTV via advertisement clicks. YouTube has also already had pay-per-view deals and the option to watch full movies for a fee as well.

Who knows where this new plan will go? YouTube regulars could just stop watching completely and move on to Blip.tv or Vimeo if the mass video hosting site goes too far.

Let’s just hope YouTube plays nice and keeps letting us watch its current Partner channels for free, or gives us the option to pay monthly to remove the ads. Giving the option to pay per month for TV could be an interesting step if they decide to go that route.

What do you think of YouTube‘s new paid subscription system?