A spokesperson for YouTube has confirmed that the site has rented movies for a year, but declined to speak on the collaboration rumor.
- Apr 26, 2011
AceShowbiz - Warner Brothers, Sony Pictures, and Universal have allegedly signed a deal with YouTube to launch a movie-on-demand service. The service will allow the largest video sharing site to be charging the users to stream movies.
Previously being wary about YouTube, the three major studios now seem ready to work with the site. An uncredited senior executive at one Hollywood studio opened up to The Wrap about the idea of working with YouTube, saying "We think it will start with VOD, but broaden to include sell-through over time."
"We are pretty excited because we are happy to see new entrants come in transactionally rather than a subscription model," he went on. "What's really good about their approach is rather than another subscription offering, they're going into fresh area where has been fewer leaps forward."
YouTube confirmed through a spokesperson that the site has rented movies for a year, yet declining to speak on the collaboration rumor. "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," the spokesperson said. "Outside of that, we don't comment on rumor or speculation."
In the meantime, The Wrap also reported that Paramount and Fox have declined to join the club although the three other major studios have agreed to be part of the service. There were no words on the reason behind the declining.
