Google's YouTube to launch subscription model in "few months": CNBC

Reuters
A picture illustration shows a YouTube logo reflected in a person's eye, in central Bosnian town of Zenica, early June 18, 2014. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

(Reuters) - Google Inc is set to launch a subscription model for YouTube in a few months, CNBC quoted Robert Kyncl, the online video service's head of content and business operations as saying at the Code/Media conference. The company was "fine-tuning the experience", Kyncl said at the conference in California. (http://cnb.cx/1zOXElH) YouTube has been exploring a paid, ad-free version of its service for some time. The company launched a pilot program in May 2013 that allowed individual content creators to charge consumers a subscription fee to access a particular "channel" of videos. The plan would represent a significant change for the world's No. 1 online video, whose free videos, often accompanied by short commercials, attract more than 1 billion users a month. (Reporting by Abhirup Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)