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Report: YouTube Expanding Movie Rental Business

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Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2011 08:25

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LionKiller

Report: YouTube Expanding Movie Rental Business

YouTube is prepping an expansion of its movie rental service that will include selections from major movie studios and serve as a serious competitor to Apple's iTunes, according to a report.Sony Pictures Entertainment, Warner Brothers, and Universal, as well as Lionsgate and Kino Lorber will allow YouTube to rent their films, movie executives with knowledge of the deals.

However, the publication did not appear to know that YouTube already had a movie rental service in place, noting that in a later update.

"We've steadily been adding more and more titles since launching movies for rent on YouTube over a year ago and now have thousands of titles available. Outside of that, we don't comment on rumor, or speculation," a YouTube spokesman said via email.

YouTube has been dabbling in movie rentals for more than a year, but it has not become a major focus for the Google-owned video site.

In January 2010, YouTube partnered with the Sundance Film Festival to rent out its films for a 48-hour period via Google Checkout. In April 2010, YouTube launched youtube.com/store, which featured movie rentals from $0.99 to $2.99. The site is currently highlighting films that debuted several years ago, like "Bobby," "Hannibal Rising," and "Scary Movie 4."

In February, there were reports that YouTube was planning to launch its movie rental service in the UK, but a source denied that that was the case.

Earlier this month, YouTube started the initial rollout of its live streaming service, which added live video capabilities to YouTube for the first time