Add one more major studio to the YouTube lineup... a sign that Hollywood may finally be losing--or at least learning to cope with--its long-standing fear of all things Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) .
YouTube today said it had signed a deal with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to start adding some 600 titles, including classics like Rain Man and Rocky to the online video site, as well as its Google Play store.
Users in the U.S. and Canada will start getting access to some MGM classic content immediately. The MGM deal means YouTube and Google Play now have content from five of the six major studios--MGM, Paramount, Universal, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros. and Disney--as well as more than 10 independent movie studios, including Lionsgate, and The Weinstein Co., for rent.
Google earlier this month signed a deal with Paramount that will bring 500 new titles to YouTube and its new Google Play store. The movies, which will be available to users in the United States and Canada, will include some oldies, like The Godfather, as well as newer fare such as Transformers and Hugo.
Google's movie rental library now tops 9,000 titles.
YouTube points out that a recent study from IHS Sceen Digest forecasts online movie watching will double in the United States this year, actually becoming the majority of people's home entertainment viewing.
For more:
- see this YouTube blog
- see this Washington Post article
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