New paid YouTube channels to offer Canadian kids' TV shows

Canadian children's show producer DHX Media is bringing some of its most famous cartoon series to the Internet, as part of a revenue sharing agreement with Google's YouTube.

The Halifax-based company says shows like The Busy World of Richard Scarry, Inspector Gadget and Super Mario will appear on three paid-content channelsDHX Kids, DHX Junior and DHX Retro.

YouTube will initially launch its paid model in 10 markets, including the U.S., Canada and the U.K., as part of the streaming video website's rollout of a subscription channel model.

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The channels will be available for $2.99 a month, and are part of a 30-channel selection that will be price as low as 99 cents per month.

Although the world's largest video site has rented and sold movies and TV shows from major studios since late 2008, most people watch videos on YouTube for free.

It's the first time YouTube is introducing all-you-can-watch channels that require a monthly fee.

Children's content from Halifax firm DHX Media

"There is an insatiable appetite for kid's content in the digital universe across the globe and DHX Media is positioned with our extensive library of evergreen favourites to satisfy that demand," said Michael Hirsh, executive chairman of DHX Media in a release.

DHX Media Ltd. owns a broad array of children's programs including Calliou, Heathcliff and Yo Gabba Gabba!

Other channels will feature Roger Corman's campy B movies, children's shows like Sesame Street and inspirational monologues by celebrities.

In the field of paid video content online, YouTube is playing catch up to services like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon, all of which have millions of paying customers.

But with a billion monthly visitors from around the globe, the Google-owned video service hopes to quickly add subscribers and add to the money it already makes from online advertising.

"This is just the beginning," said Malik Ducard, YouTube's director of content partnerships. The site plans to roll out a way for a broad number of partners to also launch pay channels on their own soon.

Other channels to feature movies, celebrity content

Corman, a producer and director whose influential cult classics like Deathrace 2000 and Piranha earned him an honorary Oscar in 2009, said he's kept his 400-film library off of video streaming sites until now.

In an interview with The Associated Press, he said he turned down an offer from Hulu for about $5,000 to $6,000 per film several years ago, but sees promise in the YouTube offering. His channel, Corman's Drive-in, will cost subscribers $3.99 per month for a rotating selection of 30 movies, refreshed with new interviews and clips from films that are in production. It is set to launch in June.

"I believed for many years that the future of motion picture distribution, particularly for the independents, is on the Internet," said the 87-year-old director. "I think the time is now."

YouTube will keep slightly less than half of the revenue generated by the subscriptions.

Corman's wife and producing partner Julie Corman said they were taken aback at YouTube's potential after a clip of their 2010 movie Sharktopus went viral with 11 million views.

If even one per cent of those viewers signed up for a subscription, it would amount to a healthy revenue stream, she said.

"The numbers are astonishing. We're waiting for the fireworks display," she said.