AP Sources: YouTube to offer online movie rentals

(catastrophegirl)

YouTube on Friday began letting people in Britain rent movies for viewing online at the Google-owned video-sharing website."We've got some cracking films to keep everyone entertained through the upcoming winter months and beyond," YouTube business product manager Matteo Vallone said in a blog post announcing the launch in Britain.More than a thousand full-length films from studios in Hollywood or Britain are available for streaming online as rentals at youtube.com/movies, according to Vallone.

YouTube is owned by Google, which is also set to make a play in the lucrative music-streaming market, but reportedly has a negotiating team separate from that of its parent company.

Google has moved to bolster the appeal of its video site by striking deals with several Hollywood movie studios to make their films available to rent online in the US

Dana Blankenhorn submits: At first glance the whole idea sounds silly. What would Google (GOOG) want with Netflix (NFLX) when it already has YouTube? The real question is why Netflix should sell, right? Right.

(pccoder)

(Beth Lennon)

TORONTO — Canadians who would like to own the films they’ve just seen at the theatre will soon have a chance to double-up at the box-office, as part of an agreement between Cineplex Inc. (TSX:CGX) and several major Hollywood studios. The country’s largest theatre chain is about the launch SuperTicket, a hybrid of both a movie admission and a digital download of the same film. Here’s how it works: