Rumored YouTube streaming rental gambit could flop

The unofficial line has been drawn in the sand when it comes to online video: rentals and paid offerings with no commercials are usually offered as downloads that can often be watched on the TV, while streaming movies are usually free and ad-supported while being restricted to the browser. YouTube may attempt to blur that line soon, though, by offering paid rentals from its streaming video site that is known primarily for quirky user-generated content. 

YouTube is allegedly already in talks with several major movie studios to offer paid rentals for premium content (aka full-length movies that aren’t decades old), according to a recent report in the Wall Street Journal. Those studios include Lions Gate Entertainment, MGM, Sony, and Time Warner, according to the paper’s sources, with Universal seemingly missing from the list. The details have yet to be hammered out, but the agreement would generally allow users to stream premium content for a fee (expected to be around $3.99) while other movies will be ad-supported. How will YouTube’s plans fit in with (and stand out from) the competition?