Yahoo! Announces Future Product Plans

C|Net reports on Yahoo!'s plans for this year:

As expected, the company announced a streaming video subscription service and a planned premium services package dubbed "Yahoo Plus." Yahoo said its premium package will appeal to broadband users, but declined to elaborate on specific services that will be offered. The company added that it has struck a deal to distribute Yahoo Plus on Hewlett-Packard computers.

The video service, called "Yahoo Platinum," will offer clips of news, entertainment and sports programming. In a demonstration, Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang showed clips from Fox’s "American Idol" and said Platinum would offer outtakes, exclusive interviews and special events from third-party partners. Yahoo is in discussions with Fox, CBS and ABCNews, among others, to include their content, according to sources familiar with the plan.

Separately, Yahoo said it has struck a distribution agreement with British telecom company BT Broadband. Through Yahoo U.K. Plus, subscribers will get broadband access packaged with Yahoo Plus.