Not surprisingly, it appears that YouTube’s ambitions for getting in on the online movie rental game extend far beyond the five independent films it made available earlier this week.
The Google-owned video sharing site is once again talking to the major movie studios about offering up content for rental, following reports last fall that deals were in the works with Lionsgate, Sony and Warner Brothers -- deals that still haven't officially materialized.
BusinessWeek reports that YouTube is offering a model in which the studios and independent filmmakers can decide how much to charge for their rentals. YouTube would then conceivably take a cut of the rental price, as it would foot the streaming bill and be a huge driver of traffic to the films.