back to article YouTube comes clean: Content rental is king

The Chocolate Factory's worst-kept secret is out: YouTube today confirmed that it is launching an online movie rental service with a 3,000-strong catalogue streaming to PCs and mobile devices. As foreshadowed by El Reg in April, the YouTubers have haunted Hollywood, inking deals with studio heavyweights in a move designed to …

COMMENTS

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  1. Semaj
    Go

    Cool

    Sounds cool, especially if it includes really up to date stuff (stuff where I really don't want to have to pay to see it at the cinema cause it only looks OK) for a lower price than the cinema (if it's the same or more then people will continue to download illegally and they'll get nothing).

    Will it actually be available in the UK too or just the US? Also, will the titles be available low res for people like me who have awful (sometimes < 1MB) connections?

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    sigh

    another player in the market, but will it make a blind bit of difference to the woeful range of content available in the UK.

  3. Ian Ferguson
    Thumb Down

    Let me guess

    "US only"

    1. gribbler
      FAIL

      Rather than guessing...

      ... you could have read the article. And yes, it is US only. Hopefully us Brits will get access soon.

      It never fails to amaze me that so many media companies still think it's perfectly reasonable to have different releases for different markets. I download quite a lot of TV shows for that reason, I want to watch them when all my friends in the States watch them, not 2-3 months later when they reach UK television.

    2. thecakeis(not)alie

      "US Only."

      How awesome. The 1% of people in that country who still have a "disposable income" must be thrilled.

      Mind you, that 1% have more "disposable income" than a largish chunk of the entire rest of the world combined...

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    Inception? King's Speech?

    Not on there at the moment.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    available to users in the US

    Can you please start including the address of a good US proxy in stories like this. Just for the benefit of the (quickly Gooled figures) 6,468,229,150 people who aren't in the USA.

  6. poohbear

    Bandwidth?

    What about the bandwidth implications? Many people here in Sunny South Africa are still on default 3 GB/month cap ... and often with only a 500 Mb/s connection (theoretical, YMMV). Watching a movie or three will soon deplete that. Even in the UK won't your Acceptable Use policies (ie illegal Caps and throttles) make these online rentals non-viable?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      re:bandwidth

      that's slowly becoming true for a lot of the US especially if you are stuck with AT&T.

    2. ClickMonster
      Unhappy

      Not just SA

      When Netflix was introduced into Canada, the major ISPs reduced the monthly caps ... of course, that was just a coincidence and nothing to do with these companies also dominating the cable/satellite and broadcast rights markets.

      I doubt very much, as the right holders, these companies will ever allow YouTube's rental service to ever get a toe-hold in the Canadian market.

      1. Robert Carnegie Silver badge

        Re: dominating the cable/satellite and broadcast rights markets

        It should be called "net neutralization", except that that's too easy a twist on the more famous applicable phrase, and also has at least one, maybe more, proper meanings already.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Only 400 Mb/s ?

      Wow - my ADSL 2+ at 17Mb/s now feels really slow.

      You must hit your cap in what - 30seconds?

  7. tommej
    Unhappy

    Taxi driver?

    It's the Bollywood film of the same name.

  8. DrXym

    "Any computer"

    So long as that computer is within the continental limits of the United States.

  9. sisk
    Thumb Up

    Cool

    "Older titles will be free, but ad-supported."

    Hey, works for me. The question is what do they consider 'older'?

  10. Al Jones

    $3.99?

    Redbox is becoming ubiquitous in the US, and has set the price of a DVD rental at $1. With a Netflix account costing $8/month, YouTube rentals aren't exactly price competitive!

  11. Jeremy 2
    FAIL

    Tried it...

    ...for science or something.

    Anyway, maybe it varies from film to film but it would only let me watch Despicable Me at 480p. My kids can put crap from their cheapo camera onto Youtube at a higher resolution than that. Artefacts everywhere. For $4 a shot, I expect HD.

  12. trafalgar
    Thumb Up

    More content please...

    Future of TV/film, Spotify-esque subscriptions or advert-supported free service.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    "US Only" geolocation bullshit again

    That's fine by me. I'll just keep downloading my shows via bittorrent - free, no ads, I can keep them as long as I want, and available anywhere in the world. When will these retards learn the Internet is GLOBAL?

  14. Captain Scarlet Silver badge

    Nice but

    I have the majority of what I like on DVD, I would rather the convenience of being able to play the film straight away (Now I've said that my Blu Ray will probably decide to die and kill whatever disc is in it at that moment, oh and I'm on 2/3mb as thats as fast as adsl2 will go in my area)

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