Google launches YouTube subscriptions - FT.com Google has entered a market dominated by cable and satellite television with the launch of a global subscription service for 30 channels on YouTube, a move that challenges the established order of the broadcasting industry. The announcement, first revealed this week by the Financial Times, will give owners of popular channels an additional revenue stream to supplement income from advertising. The subscription service will be available in 10 countries, with channels varying from children's programming, such as Sesame Street and The Jim Henson Company, to comedy from The Laugh Factory and sports, such as UFC. Prices start at 99 cents a month, with channel owners able to set their own rates. Malik Ducard, director of content partnerships at YouTube, said the site had "always been about unleashing the world's creativity . . . this is an important next step in that journey." The programme would give channel owners "more flexibility in monetising and distributing content," he added. Google will keep about 45 per cent of subscription revenue, similar to the share of advertising revenue it keeps from ads that play on YouTube. The rest will go to the channel owners. The channels participating in the pilot are a mix of old and new media brands. Acorn TV, which promises "the best British television," has signed up, offering shows like "Midsomer Murders" and "Pie in the Sky" for $4.99 a month. There is also a channel aimed at the gay community, a classical music concert channel and a children's channel with programming supplied by National Geographic Kids. The à la carte model chosen by Google allows viewers to pick and choose which channels they subscribe to - a departure from the bundled model preferred by cable and satellite television, which has begun to come in for criticism because of rising costs. Mr Ducard said participating channels could decide whether to show ads in their programming, drawing a comparison with basic cable channels, which tend to show ads, and premium cable television channels, which do not. But he said that YouTube was pursuing a different model to the television industry. "YouTube is not TV," he said. The ability of content creators to engage with their audiences in a two-way, creative way is unique to the platform. The launch comes at a time of great change in the television and video sectors. Audiences are fragmenting and subscription services, such as Netflix, which has more than 30m subscribers, have grown in size and purchasing power. Mr Ducard said the company was not trying to compete with pay TV. We think the two can coexist nicely.