YouTube’s pay-TV service to add AMC

SAN BRUNO, Calif. — YouTube, the world’s most popular website for free short-form videos, introduced its live pay-TV service last week — with a little help from raging zombies.

YouTube TV, which had been in testing, will soon add six cable channels from AMC Networks Inc., including AMC and BBC America, as part of a $35-a-month live TV subscription that already includes the four major broadcast networks and dozens of cable outlets. That gives the fledgling online service popular shows like AMC’s zombie thriller The Walking Dead.

The explosion of video from Netflix Inc. and Amazon. com Inc., along with shrinking cable audiences, have led pay-TV providers and technology giants to court young viewers with online offerings they can watch on iPhones and TVs. Dish Network Corp., AT&T Inc. and Sony Corp. are all selling small packages of channels on the Web that include live programming and on-demand libraries of shows. These “skinny bundles” have amassed almost 2 million subscribers.

AMC Networks, based in New York, is the only pureplay cable programmer chosen for YouTube TV, which has decided not to carry Time Warner Inc.’s CNN, TBS and TNT channels, for example. YouTube’s other partners all own major broadcast networks and were able to use popular over-the-air shows as leverage to include their cable channels.