YouTube: pay to view channels en route

A piece of code found in an update to the YouTube Android app reveals pay-to-view channels coming to the video streaming website.

Given the number of pre-roll advertisements increasingly appearing on YouTube videos, it felt like only a matter of time before Google rolled out some sort of pay-per-view service for the video-streaming and -sharing website — especially since Google, as The Wall Street Journal revealed, is said to be thinking about opening its own music streaming service, à la Spotify.

Now, Android-focused website Android Police has found a piece of code in the latest update to the YouTube app that seems to confirm it.

The two lines of code read:

< string name="paid_channel_subscribe_message">You can only subscribe to this paid channel on your computer.< /string>

< string name="paid_channel_unsubscribe_message">You can only unsubscribe from this paid channel on your computer.< /string>

It's not a lot, but it certainly does seem to indicate that paid channels are definitely in the works for the site — and that you have to be on a computer to sign on or off.

We'd welcome the ability to stream TV shows from YouTube; but then, whether this is something Google would intend to roll out to Australia is something we are not overly optimistic about.