YouTube Begins Streaming Full-Length TV Shows

Ever wish (I have) that YouTube would host TV shows and movies? I mean, sure, you can go to Hulu and other places, but not YouTube. Well, that seems to be changing, albeit slowly.

They’re not exactly picking stellar content (oh, oh, I know there are some serious MacGyver fans out there); they’re starting with Beverly Hills: 90210, Star Trek, and MacGyver. Why not Star Trek: The Next Generation, dang it?

Here’s what the press release said:

These shows will be available in the new Theater View style we rolled out earlier this week, which provides optimal experience for watching full-length programming on your computer. Our new full-length format, in conjunction with the launch of our new player, marks an exciting milestone for YouTube as we continue our efforts to expand user choice and improve viewer experience.

As we test this new format, we also want to ensure that our partners have more options when it comes to advertising on their full-length TV shows. You may see in-stream video ads (including pre-, mid- and post-rolls) embedded in some of these episodes; this advertising format will only appear on premium content where you are most comfortable seeing such ads. In order to make this clear to you, we’ve labeled all full-length videos with a Film Strip symbol ( ) so you’ll know exactly what kind of content you’re choosing to watch and what ads you might see.

Yep, you’ll see ads before, during and after the video. Oh, well. See the tick marks above? Those show the times when you’ll see an ad.

You can see how search results will display the symbol below:

For now the videos are all from CBS (yes, yes, Star Trek was originally on NBC, 90210 was originally on Fox, and MacGyver was on ABC, but they are all Paramount shows, which is part of CBS).

Beam me up, Scotty!