YouTube to give viewers option of watching ad-free for a monthly fee

YouTube will soon give viewers the option of paying a monthly fee to skip ads.

On Wednesday, the online video service sent a letter to its most-popular content creators asking them to sign off on new contract terms to allow for the change.

It's not clear when the option will be offered or how much the fee will be.

A YouTube spokeswoman declined to confirm specifics.

The streaming video service owned by Google Inc. first offered pay channels in May 2013 and also launched a paid subscription, ad-free music service called Music Key to select participants in November.