If "Pants on the Ground" remixes and burning banana suits aren’t your thing, don’t fret, there’s a whole new reason to use YouTube: movie rentals.
The Google-owned video site debuted online movie rentals today on a very limited basis, allowing users to rent five different flicks from the Sundance Film Festival using their Google Checkout accounts. The company says “a small collection of rental videos from other U.S. partners across different industries, including health and education, will be made available in the weeks ahead.”
Last year, it was reported that YouTube was in talks with movie studios to offer rentals of major motion pictures, creating what would be dubbed an instant Netflix killer. This is far from that, but represents what could become a massively important part of YouTube’s future. Don’t forget -- the site is also continuing to push ahead with HD and making its content big screen-friendly.