Youtube, who made a name for themselves by offering free streaming videos, made a step, although small, towards the rental market. They have a long way to go before they will be able to compete on the same level as Netflix but it’s still an important step that is well worth noticing.
At the moment Youtube, who is owned by Google, will begin with only offering five movies and they are not of the blockbuster type. They are not even old forgotten classics. They are something much better – at least according to a movie geek like me. The films that will be up for rental are part of this year’s, or was part of last year’s, Sundance Film Festival so expect something that is a bit more independent than say Avatar. You’d better be quick if you want to try out this service as the movies will be available for a limited period, from Friday 22nd to the end of the Festival which is January 31.
It’ll be interesting to see how this service gets received by the users. If a success I guess that Google will put even more efforts into getting the full version launched as soon possible. Youtube has already held discussions with many of the major studios so in the future I guess that it will be possible to watch all your favorite Mel Gibson movies as well and not only the ones made by directors with unpronounceable names.
nice site. indeed there has to be just more such good content available?