YouTube Gets Into Programming

YOUTUBE GOES PRO: YouTube is quietly ready to roll out around 25 channels that will offer professionally produced news, information and entertainment, according to Nikki Finke’s deadline.com. Google plans to spend an estimated $150m on the services — with top tier channels getting budgets of about $5m apiece. An initial slate of channels could be unveiled by the end of this month, to go live in January, with additional channels to launch in April. Initial production partners reportedly include Warner Bros., ShineReveille, BermanBraun, FremantleMedia and skate boarder Tony Hawk, with Google hoping to attract major advertisers previously leery of YouTube's user-generated content. Google would then split revenues with its content providers, who will apparently retain ownership of their material. This could well be where narrowcasting finally finds a place to call home. (10/14p)