YouTube To SHOW MGM FILMS Online For FREE!!!!!!!

by **J The Kidd** Mon Nov 10, 2008 3:12 pm

The world's largest video-sharing website YouTube will show full-length television shows and films from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's archives, it will announce today.

It is the latest step by the Google-owned site to boost advertising revenue and compete with its biggest rival - online film site Hulo.Com.

MGM Studios will kick off the partnership by posting episodes of its decade-old 'American Gladiators' programme to YouTube on one channel.

On another channel, MGM will feature full-length action films like 'Bulletproof Monk' and 'The Magnificent Seven' and clips from popular movies like 'Legally Blonde.' These will be free to watch, with adverts running alongside the video.

YouTube in October forged a similar partnership with CBS Corp to run full-length archived shows, including 'Star Trek,' 'Young and the Restless' and 'Beverly Hills 90210.' The service is currently only available in the U.S.

Many TV networks already run short clips on YouTube, which also offers millions of home videos uploaded by users.

But until now, YouTube videos were predominantly short clips of ten minutes or less. The company has been experimenting with full-length shows for some months with Time Warner Inc's HBO and CBS's Showtime cable networks.

The new partnership puts YouTube in more direct competition with Hulu, the online video site owned by News Corp and General Electric's NBC Universal.

Hulu features up-to-date full-length shows from Fox, NBC and CBS and although the site only draws only a fraction of YouTube's audience it has reportedly nearly matched their advertising revenue in its first year.