China's private video websites, such as Xunlei, Cool 6 and tudou.com, will promote a new operating model this year, according to Guangzhou Daily. Payment will be required to watch some videos on these sites; others will remain free of charge.

Online video service provider Xunlei has announced that its paid service for copyrighted video content will be in operation by late February, when users will not be allowed to upload videos either.

According to Luo Weimin, COO of Xunlei, its premium online video service, "Ruby Theater", will provide copyrighted high-definition movies to Internet users for set fees. Viewers will have to pay one to two yuan for each video-on-demand movie played by "Ruby Theater", while monthly subscribers only need to pay a few tenths of a yuan per movie.

"The present videos on demand will still be free, but a certain gap exists between them and paid movies in definition and speed," Luo said.

Meanwhile, another domestic well-known video site, Cool 6, also announced plans to push forward its charging model among users, which is said to supplement its advertising model.

Cool 6 will be developed into two parts: high-definition videos and netizens' video sharing, said Li Shanyou, CEO of Cool 6. There is a possibility of charging users for high-definition movies.

Tudou.com, the largest Chinese video website, indicated it will charge for some of its videos late this year and increase the number to a reasonable proportion.

According to a report from China Internet Network Information Center, as of the end of 2009, China's online video users amounted to 240 million, 38.44 million more than the previous year and accounting for two thirds of the present netizens. If the charging model achieves popularity among such a large number of users, these video websites will greatly increase their income.

However, in a random survey by a Chinese web portal, only 383 netizens said they would be willing to pay for video-on-demand service while 6,095 said they would not.

Private video websites, such as Xunlei, Cool 6 and tudou.com are all keen to charge for content but video channels of large web portals including Sina, Sohu and NetEase, as well as CNTV, China's state Internet-based television station, launched in late 2009, are taking no action. At present, they all offer free video content, with no exception for high-definition movies and TV dramas.