Dec 18, 2010 11:52 GMT  ·  By

After years of bleeding money, Google finally said that YouTube was very close to profitability. Of course, that was a year and a half ago and, while Google has been singing the same tune since, it hasn't actually said if the video site is profitable or not or how much it's bringing in.

But Google is still working on driving revenues up, with a big push into feature film streaming sometime in early 2011, according to rumors.

YouTube already has movies and TV shows for streaming on the site. In fact, it has been offering these for quite a while, but the feature hasn't really picked up any Steam.

There may be several reasons for this, YouTube users may simply not want long-form video or they don't expect to pay for it. Or it may be that the current catalog is simply not enough to entice that many users.

Most likely, it's a combination of the two, but YouTube is at least taking care of the latter, as it is said that Google is now negotiating with movie studios to secure a much better selection for the video site.

With blockbuster movies, people may start paying more attention to YouTube's paid streaming service. The move will also be accompanied by a significant marketing push, apparently. Considering that the site hasn't really advertised the streaming store until now, it may prove useful.

The new service may also be tied in with Google TV, which sounds like a no-brainer. While the platform hasn't proven extremely successful, lack of content is what's keeping it back.

With full-length, popular movies available on the device, Google TV may start looking more appealing. Of course, in the latest update, Google TV just got support for Netflix, which would be the streaming service's biggest competitor.