YouTube denies report of plans to cancel high-end dramas, comedies

[March 25, 2019]   (Reuters) - YouTube has denied that it is cancelling high-end dramas and comedies on its paid service platform, refuting the claims made in a report earlier on Sunday.

A Bloomberg report said, citing sources, that the platform has stopped accepting new pitches for high-budget scripted shows and that it had canceled high end dramas and comedies.

YouTube, owned by Alphabet Inc's Google, has several high-end dramas and comedies currently in production and will soon reveal new and returning series, a YouTube representative told Reuters late on Sunday in an emailed statement.

The platform also denied that its head of original productions Susanne Daniels and a former MTV executive hired by YouTube in 2015, is looking to move on from her position.

"While it's strangely flattering to be the topic of Hollywood gossip, please know I am committed to YouTube and can't wait to unveil our robust slate of new and returning originals," Daniels was quoted as saying in the statement.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh, Shubham Kalia and Akshay Balan in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Cooney and Rashmi Aich)

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