What do you do when you’re a film giant and you’re in financial trouble? You make a deal with the most watched spot online, a.k.a YouTube to show your full length TV shows and films! That’s exactly what MGM Studios decided to do. The initial lineup of shows and movies will include Legally Blonde, The Magnificent Seven, and American Gladiators. YouTube also recently shook hands with Lionsgate Studio and CBS to post episodes of Star Trek and Beverly Hills 90210 on the popular site. I must say I’m not too excited about the lineup but I trust that there are more exciting shows and movies to come since YouTube has around 81 million visitors to please! And by the way, they really need to put a rush on it because there’s a new site online that’s creating quite a buzz.

If I want to see more of my favorite TV shows and movies I can just go to Hulu which started carrying authorized copies of TV shows and movies long before YouTube made this deal. Hulu is an online service that carries your favorite TV shows and movies from over 100 providers like Fox, Universal Pictures, and Warner Brothers just to name a few. The buzz is that Hollywood executives find Hulu less cluttered than YouTube and they like the absence of amateur videos. I took a look at Hulu and I agree with the execs! The site is organized well. I can choose between a TV tab or a Movies tab and from there I can choose a channel (Drama, Horror, Comedy, etc.), look at movie trailers, or just browse to find what I’m looking for. Hulu has a large versatile selection of shows and movies and the quality is superb! It felt like I was just watching a regular DVD on my computer or television. Hulu is all about TV shows and movies so if you’re looking for funny home made videos or tutorials head back to YouTube where you’ll find plenty to choose from.

Only time will tell if YouTube can catch up to Hulu’s success when it comes to TV shows and movies. Right now YouTube is waiting to see what happens with the 1 billion dollar lawsuit Viacom threw their way for copyright infringement.  Viacom claims that there are over 160,000 unauthorized clips of their programming on the site that YouTube benefits from without payment to Viacom or licensing from the entertainment giant. Could this be the end of YouTube? Doubt it. The deals they made will probably put more money in YouTube’s pocket and the hands of the studio execs that jump on board. Let’s face it, Hulu is great but YouTube has been going strong for years and is widely viewed each and every day. Why wouldn’t you want your shows on the number one video sharing site in the world! Right now YouTube needs to stay out of copyright trouble and on Hollywood’s good side.  They’ve added Video ID to the site which lets companies remove unauthorized clips of their material. This is a good start to cleaning up unauthorized material and making room for the authorized stuff! Stay tuned, the battle of these two online theaters may get very interesting!