CONFIRMED: MGM to offer full-length films on YouTube

Intellectual Property, Online TV, Web 2.0
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mgm-logo.jpgAs we reported last Thursday, full-length movies are going to be hitting YouTube in the near future, and we now know that they’re going to come from 84-year-old film studio MGM. The studio has suffered financial trouble in recent years.

It’ll initially be uploading ancient episodes of American Gladiators, but following that, it’ll be putting up classics like Bulletproof Monk and The Magnificent Seven. There’ll also be officially-sanctioned clips from newer films like Legally Blonde. Unfortunately, as part of the deal, they’ll also be taking down thousands of user-uploaded clips from the James Bond and Rocky movies.

MGM’s co-president, Jim Packer, showing that he isn’t as revolutionary as you might have hoped, has said that the studio’s taking baby steps – that he didn’t see it likely that MGM would be putting up a significant portion of their catalogue in the near future. That’s a pity. What MGM needs right now isn’t baby steps – it’s big ones.

MGM (via NYT)

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Duncan Geere
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