Full-Length MGM TV Shows and Movies Coming to YouTube

Will first offer episodes of “American Gladiators" along with films like “Bulletproof Monk” and “The Magnificent Seven.”

Sometime today YouTube is expected to announce a new partnership with MGM Studios that allows it to begin offering full-length TV shows and movies for free streaming on its MGM Studios Streaming Channel.

According to the NY Times, it will reportedly have two channels, one for TV shows and the other for movies, with initial programming to include episodes of "American Gladiators" and movies like "Bulletproof Monk" and "The Magnificent Seven."

Now it's not clear how many MGM movies will appear on YouTube after the launch, but  Jim Packer, MGM’s co-president, did say the studio was rolling out content slowly on the site, and doesn't plan on putting up too much of the studio's catalog "anytime soon."

“We will have some long-form videos up on YouTube, but I don’t think that’s the platform to have 30 or 40 movies up at once,” Mr. Packer said. “I feel much more comfortable doing that on a site like Hulu.”

Hulu, a video streaming site that is a joint venture between NBC and Fox, already offers full-length TV shows and movies from a number of different entertainment companies. It has been the more popular destination because it actually embeds advertisements in the content to ensure proper monetization of TV shows and movies made available.

YouTube recognizes the importance of offering quality content alongside the usual array of home videos and clips.

“We believe in comprehensiveness, and we want to have deals with everybody,” said Jordan Hoffner, the director of content partnerships for YouTube. “We want to be able to give users the most content possible.”

This new deal helps them satisfy that goal and is an important recognition by MGM Studios that people will otherwise simply download or stream their content from illegal sources which don't earn the company a dime.