Is there anything on YouTube you’d pay to see? Critics are skeptical but I think YouTube is on to something with their new subscription service.

According to AdAge, YouTube is about to launch a paid subscription pilot program with a few carefully chosen content producers. These channels will put their new content behind a paywall and users will have to pony up anywhere from $1 to $5 a month to gain access.

Says AdAge;

YouTube is treating paid subscriptions as an experiment. much like video rentals when it began in 2010. The initial group of channels will be small, likely about 25 at the outset. The revenue split from subscriptions is expected to be similar to the 45-55 split that is common for ads on YouTube. Partners will also have the option to include ads in their pay channels, but its unclear what form those will take.

Not all that long ago it was not uncommon to get up out your chair, leave the house and visit Blockbuster to get the latest videos or games.

Now Blockbuster is becoming a real live look into the death of a segment of the video rental industry. We’ve been watching newspapers on the decline for years now (in their print form that is) and according to reports things are simply not getting any better for Blockbuster even after they were bought by the Dish Network (I missed that one) in 2010 in a bankruptcy auction. Now it’s possibly that more jobs going away as a result of store closings. Reuters reports

“I’ve decided to depart Hulu in Q1.”

Doesn’t get clearer than that. Jason Kilar, the driving force behind the online streaming service is leaving for parts unknown with hardly a rumor about why or where he’s going.

Kilar came to Hulu from Amazon and was instrumental in turning the company into a serious contender in the streaming game.

Kilar says in his departure post / email:

We have grown from a few hundred thousand in revenue in 2007 to generating almost $700 million in revenue in 2012 alone. We have created a video subscription service that is growing unusually fast, adding over 200K new subscribers in the past 7 days alone (a new record). We have proudly generated over $1 Billion for our content partners since we excitedly entered private beta in October 2007. Our video advertising service delivers world-class results and sets the pace for the industry. We have authored scores of inventions along the way.