Google’s YouTube Signs Up Everyone But TV for New Paid Service

Google’s YouTube, which has signed up partners for a new paid video service, may find out by early in 2016 whether its own Internet stars really are as valuable as those in Hollywood. Partners accounting for more than 90 percent of YouTube viewing have signed on to the paid service, the company said. While the lineup includes home-grown celebrities and music videos, YouTube so far doesn’t have TV networks such as Fox, NBC and CBS, according to people with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified discussing the project. TV staples like Fox’s “Futurama,” NBC’s “Parks & Recreation” and CBS’s “Under the Dome” are a featured part of competing products from Netflix and Amazon.

Without shows like those, YouTube’s commercial-free service will have to attract paying viewers with original series, music videos and thousands of its channels already available for free. “We are progressing according to plan,” YouTube said. “We have support from the overwhelming majority of our partners, with well over 90 percent of YouTube watchtime covered by agreements, and more in the pipeline about to close.” The networks still have time to sign up. YouTube, has targeted a roll-out of the paid service by the end of the year, people with knowledge of the matter said in April. The company has advised partners like top draw PewDiePie that their clips won’t be allowed to remain on the public, ad-supported YouTube if they don’t also sign up for the commercial-free subscription version. (Holdouts can keep videos hosted privately on YouTube, allowing them to become public once a deal is reached.)