Google buys YouTube for $1.65 BILLION

[MacGuffin]

Link here (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061009/ap_on_bi_ge/google_youtube_23)

WHAT THE FUCK DID I DO WRONG WITH MY LIFE???? WHY DOES GOD HATE ME???

[meshou]

That's a shame. I don't like how google video works compared to youtube.

It'll be nice to buy full length movies I can see any time, but dammit, I probably won't be able to see things like Penn and Teller's Bullshit or music videos any more. :(

[Ghost-Girl]

NO!

aw, shit. oh well.

[HappyNoodleBoy]

Is it really such a bad thing? I mean, at least it wasn't bought by Microsoft.
On my list of companies i have respect for Google is up near the top. They don't often give in to the government or other large companies. IE: the government wanting to see peoples search requests AND even that Clinton/Wallace thing a few weeks ago. YouTube took that clip off pretty fast (probably because of pressure from FOX) but Google never took it down.(as far as i know)

I've got nothing against the sale, but maybe I'm just blissful. Please enlighten me as to why you feel otherwise Mac.

[MacGuffin]

I've got nothing against the sale, but maybe I'm just blissful. Please enlighten me as to why you feel otherwise Mac.
They got $1.65 BILLION DOLLARS!!!! Can't I just get a lousy million?

[meshou]

I like google, it's just a shame if they're the only ones out there doing stuff like this. More voices = good.

[PiccoloNamek]

God damn it, this sucks.

[C.J.Woolf]

Good work if you can get it.

But if any of us slackers had gotten it we probably wouldn't be posting here.

[libertarianjim]

Damn, I wish I had a chunk of that.

I would have bought the Penguins.

[rainfall]

You Tube could not handle the attention and traffic they so suddenly got anyways. I bet for them it was an awesome pay out.

[Architectonic]

So getting (really) rich quick is possible for some people. ;)

[inspectorgadget]

I don't think this is bad at all. Google rules. It'll only mean the service will get better, imo.

[Ghost-Girl]

I would have thought they could get more than 1.65 billion.

...but i don't know much about that kinda stuff.

[rainfall]

I would have thought they could get more than 1.65 billion.

...but i don't know much about that kinda stuff.

They got staff of 60... Someone do the math. I don't think they'd share it equally, but it's just fun to think about.

[ApeTheDog]

They're becoming like microsoft now, then, aren't they?

[JBHunt]

Chad and Steve wants to thank YOU!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCVxQ_3Ejkg

[jread]

Google's plans for world domination are falling into place. They will soon buy Myspace and any other large, online site. After that, Wal-Mart will be swallowed up (Google-Mart). Soon they will have their own country... mwahahaha!!

The good thing is that I like Google a lot. I think they're a great company and I like the way they do things. Let's just hope that it doesn't all go to their heads and they become another Micro$oft.

[rainfall]

I was wondering how much will it take for me to sell out. I have to admit, I am incapable of maintaining any kind of menial or even analytical job as I quickly lose interest and start slacking off, even though I'm capable of doing great job/learning needed skills/etc. I think I'll just sell out when the first opportunity comes... Then it's dope time.

[Spartan26]

They're becoming like microsoft now, then, aren't they?
Actually, I wouldn't be surprised to see them go in another direction. It's funny, a friend and I were having this discussion a couple of weeks ago wondering what would happen next.

As it was, YouTube was inching closer and closer to being their own cable channel. Think early days of MTV, which was duplicated in the launching of Comedy Central. Pre-existing content is strung together by VJ's who intro'd music videos and later comedians who'd intro comic bits. Quality of the content varied but at no time did the view populus ever tune out due to low production values of some of the songs or routines. The best thing was that everything was so different from the next. Best thing to the cable nets was that there was zero license fees to pay for the content.

Initially, you rotate hosts to form shows. These could be done very cheaply. Find the cheapest existing set, do tight shots on the host. There are no residuals to pay. The crew would be minimal. Because of the promotional value, content providers signed off, granting rights in perpetuity.

Today, people load in their videos. (Content). People view content. It because easy to see which elements are more commonly played. Pretty soon, you have somebody in a studio, heck, even a bedroom, do weekly webcasts of some of the home videos people in. At some point it becomes an daily occurance. There's already a way to more efficiently measure eyeballs better than Nielsen.

I don't know if you (across the country/world) have seen the growing demand for content for cell phone downloads? It really has nothing to do with the 1" cellie screen. That's kinda phase 1. It's really the next generation and one after that that people (media - web & TV) are interested in. Kinda like video on demand. The video iPods are getting closer. Instead of just having a handful of broadcast channels, the technology they want would be more of cable or sat range of channels that can be beamed into a device but the providers still control [read:charge] people's access.

It could be just a matter of getting the word out of what homemade vids need to look like to get on the air. You may come up with themes and have a host like Elvira or that Good Ol' boy who used to do b-rated, drive in type movies. Someone figure out how to host a show or shows. Pay very little to have interstitial work done. Maybe pay some development costs to get some regular contributors to mock up a show. Who knows, maybe it'd take two hours of interstitials to fill a weeks worth of programing.

I haven't really heard too much of the deal or expectations to comment fully. It could be the hope of this deal won't really recognized for some time but as technology grows, who knows...