YouTube began as a place where people could post home-made videos, but now it has become increasingly aggressive to promote more viewers and advertisers with striking deals to host movies and television shows.  YouTube is now emerging as a big competitor to entertainment companies such as Blockbuster Inc., Netflix, iTunes and Amazon.com Inc.  

Google Inc.’s YouTube is in the process of discussing with major movie studios ways they can stream movies on a rental basis.  YouTube is talking with Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, Sony Corp, Time Warner Inc. and a few others about charging for new titles on the YouTube site.  In some cases, these titles might be available on the site the same day that the movie comes out on DVD. 

For Hollywood, this move could represent a big step in attempt to offset its dwindling DVD sales with online revenue.  Movie studios have been pursing these kind of deals, as revenue from DVD sales has fallen more rapidly than they have anticipated.  Studio revenue from DVD sales would fall by about $850 million this year to $12.9 billion.  

YouTube and the studios are still debating how this whole process is going to work and how much revenue YouTube is going to give the studios.  Under current plans, 10,000 Google employees will test the service for a period of three months starting in September, but the trial has been postponed as negotiations drag on.  

Many consumers are not too trilled at watching a full-length movie on a computer screen, but if you think about it, it might be worth it.  The price would be about par with On-Demand movies from your TV and you could watch your computer screen anywhere at any time, not just from your home television.  This could be the next big online revenue center for advertisers and entertainment businesses.