YouTube Rents Warner, Universal and Sony Movies

YouTube, Google’s video portal has signed a deal with Warner, Universal and Sony to extend its platform of movie rentals, YouTube Rentals, launched in January 2010 on the network to compete with iTunes and Netflix in the U.S., reported Time.

YouTube Rentals lets users rent movies for $ 2, although prices range from 0.99 to 19.99 dollars. “We’ve been steadily adding more and more titles since we launched the movie rental service and now we have thousands available,” said a spokesman for YouTube, who declined to comment on the agreement with the studios.

Given the decline in DVD sales and rampant piracy, major Hollywood companies are exploring alternative ways to earn income for their films’ viewing, however, Disney, Fox and Paramount, have not joined the YouTube project yet.

Warner, Universal, Paramount, Fox and Sony are part of the Ultraviolet initiative that aims to revive the purchase of films at home giving users licenses to access them on the Internet as well as allowing that content for any device able to play movies.

Source: Expreso