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YouTube deal for movie rentals having issues

April 27th, 2011 by Joseph Ruthaford

Many of the Hollywood studios have a divide on whether to join YouTube initiatives to rent movies on demand. This is actually holding up the launch of this service. Sources from TheWrap state Fox and Paramount are confirming they are have no intention to move forward with any deal at this time. Disney has also not made its intentions clear on whether or not it will be striking a deal with YouTube. Warner Bros., Sony and Universal have inked deals with YouTube for rental at launch.

YouTube is not a slam dunk, by any means, said one executive at Sony. “It’s unproven as to whether this audience through this medium will pay for content. But it’s a huge audience. And it’s an audience that pays for video,” the executive said.

All three majors believe that Google will help develop technology to eventually lead to a sell-through model, where consumers can buy – not just rent – movies and store them in digital lockers.

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