YouTube, owned by Google, Inc., announced that it would begin testing the new online movie rental service on January 22. Through the past few months, the YouTube website has undergone a new revision, with additional services added for video streaming. The idea is to compete with rivals Netflix and Apple Inc's iTunes.
The added features mark a busy period for the website. The site has rolled out HTML version 5 support for videos and other content. It also has a new web page design. Originally acquired by Google in October 2006, the site has more content uploaded in 60 days than what the three major television networks have aired in 60 years.
The video sharing website now has five films from the Sundance Film Festival available from the video sharing site as they begin their venture into the movie rental business, according to CNN.
"For a lot of the films that go through the festival, the most attention they receive is those 10 days for the festival," said the festival's programming director, Trevor Groth. "Now that the technology [like video on demand] is available for these films --- why not make them accessible?"
The Sundance movies are just a prologue for a much more ambitious pay-per-view venture, a report from the LA Times adds. The paper cites insiders for the information, but none would go on record just yet with the full details.
The movies will be available for a limited time and only to rent until the end of this month. The five films are "Bass Ackwards," "The Cove," "One Too Many Mornings," "Homewrecker" and "Children of Invention."
If you don't want to compete with the rush of rentals you can choose to download the movies from youtube by using Cucusoft YouTube Mate, which helps you download, convert, play and manage your favorite YouTube videos... and it's very easy to use. If you're a YouTube fan, you'll love YouTube Mate!
If you want the films or videos directly go into your ipod you can also choose YouTube Robot, Pick YouTube videos --> Download videos --> Convert to different formats --> Transfer to Mobile Device, all this work can be done automatically with YouTube Robot, with it you can even schedule the tedious downloading as you wish, All-In-One, not other software, codecs needed!
Rates and Viewing
Most of the movies for rent will cost $3.99 for a 48-hour viewing period. The price structure is very similar to PPV (pay-per-view) movies from cable providers. However, YouTube offers a longer viewing period. Cable providers only offer 24 hour viewing with PPV.
For the most part, YouTube has fallen behind its rivals including Netflix and Apple iTunes. Most users could argue that the popularity on the site is due to free content and videos. The new video service is a big task, but one that Google has to incorporate in an effort to please shareholders.
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