Posted Thu Jan 21, 2010 at 11:30 AM PST by Mike Attebery
Five Sundance films will be available to rent for a limited time.
Starting Friday, you’ll be able to rent movies from YouTube. The user created video viewing service has expanded in the last several months to include free movies, high definition video, and now a video rental service. But it sounds much more exciting without the details.
For now, there will only be five movies up for rental, all of which are selections from the upcoming Sundance Film Festival; “The Cove,” “Bass Ackwards,” “One Too Many Mornings,” “Children of Invention” and “Homewrecker”.
Rentals will run $3.99 a pop, and though YouTube has yet to reveal a rental time frame, we expect it’s the usual twenty-four hour rental period. Since YouTube is owned by Google, you’ll be using Google Checkout for your payments.
The films will only be available for rental until the conclusion of the Sundance Film Festival on January 31st, at which time they’ll be pulled from the service.
YouTube is planning to make more movies available, and is especially hoping to attract the independent crowd. A new program called “Filmmakers Wanted” will encourage distribution on YouTube’s rental service, with filmmakers choosing the price and YouTube taking a cut.
Source: The New York Times
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