YouTube Launches Online Movie Rentals in Britain

YouTube on Friday began letting people in Britain rent movies for viewing online at the Google-owned video-sharing website.

"We've got some cracking films to keep everyone entertained through the upcoming winter months and beyond," YouTube business product manager Matteo Vallone said in a blog post announcing the launch in Britain.

More than a thousand full-length films from studios in Hollywood or Britain are available for streaming online as rentals at youtube.com/movies, according to Vallone.

Titles in the film library ranged from Batman blockbuster "The Dark Knight" to Monty Python's "The Meaning of Life."

YouTube launched online film rental services in the United States and Canada earlier this year as it continued to expand from an online locale for sharing homemade videos to a commercial site for online movie and television streaming.