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Codebreaker

Google spending half a billion dollars for YouTube content?

John Moe Sep 16, 2011

We know that Google pretty much biffed it with last year’s launch of Google TV because it couldn’t get content partners to play along and provide shows and channels for the technology. “Fine,” says Google, “we’ll just make our own shows,” at least according to Business Insider, which says Google is looking to sink 500 million dollars into building out original shows for the video service. The original rumor about this surfaced last spring and said Google was investing 100 million so this is a huge ramp up, if it’s true. My question now is the same as it was then: does Google know anything about making GOOD shows? A pile of money is nice but I haven’t seen any attendant rumors about Google hiring people who really understand the entertainment industry. Of course, if Google wins the bidding on Hulu, that could change the landscape.

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