YouTube is reportedly looking into letting content creators charge their viewers for access to certain channels or specific videos. This evening, the Wall Street Journal wrote that people with knowledge of the matter said Google is in talks to move toward a monetization option sometime later this year.

Sources told the Journal that “YouTube also hopes that owners of struggling cable-TV channels might opt to move their content to YouTube.”

Ad Age first reported on YouTube's potential revenue-generating plan. “YouTube has reached out to a small group of channel producers and asked them to submit applications to create channels that users would have to pay to access." Ad Age's Jason Del Rey wrote, "As of now it appears that the first paid channels will cost somewhere between $1 and $5 a month, two of these people said.” Ad Age also noted that YouTube was considering allowing creators to charge for access to video libraries and live events, and the Wall Street Journal suggested that a paid-content model could be applied to early-access videos.

The Journal added, however, that this paid early-access model has not worked entirely perfectly in many cases, specifically in the case of Revision3, the owner of a tech and culture video channel called Diggnation. In 2008, Diggnation allowed users to purchase early access to a video a few days before it was released, but the company “shifted away from the model when it started to focus on selling advertising against the video content, and it said it faced some problems when a few 'techy' viewers posted Diggnation videos on other sites.”

While YouTube already offers video rentals, a new plan would make that revenue stream considerably wider.

Naturally, most of YouTube's user-uploaded content would remain free if the company went through with such a change, but it could open up a new source of revenue for the company and invite higher-quality production to YouTube's database. “The initial group of channels will be small, likely about 25 at the outset.” Ad Age reported. “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 it's unclear what form those will take.”