WWE News: WWE Joins YouTube's Premium Content Platform

According to variety.com, the WWE is one of about 100 other entertainment companies who have teamed up with You Tube.

This new partnership is set to compete with cable and satellite providers, in order to give viewers yet another option.

According to the article:

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Google is expected to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to launch as many as 100 channels. The first will bow next month, but the rollout of channels will continue through 2012.

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This is a bold move by Google as they step into the next faze of what YouTube can become. Hopefully, they will not price themselves out of the market as this could really become something big.

The article also mentioned:

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Programming partners range from production companies like Electus and BermanBraun to well-known brands including the Onion, Wall Street Journal and WWE. Some channels will see celebrity involvement from the likes of Tony Hawk, Jay-Z, Ashton Kutcher, Rainn Wilson, Amy Poehler, Deepak Chopra and Shaquille O'Neal. Brands already well rooted on YouTube will be represented as well, including Smosh and Machinima.

YouTube built its business on the back of amateur uploads; the new venture marks the most significant shift in its strategy since Google acquired it in 2006. By allying itself with pedigreed producers, YouTube is hoping to get a bigger chunk of advertising dollars that have eluded the site.

Google's strategy is to create formal channels of programming aimed at niche audiences much the way cable approached the broadcast business with the launches of MTV and CNN in the 1980s. Word of the new venture has been circulating for much of the year as Google has had meetings all over Hollywood to draft talent on both sides of the camera.

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Once they have finished their transformation, Google TV may surpass its predecessor—Apple TV. Ultimately, I can't see the WWE giving up too much content to Google/YouTube, especially with the launch of WWE Network in 2012. Chances are they will use the platform to show previously aired content similar to Hulu.

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