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Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Paramount Pictures Movies Heading to YouTube, Google Play

Paramount

Google on Wednesday announced a partnership with Paramount Pictures that will make hundreds of movies available for rent on Google Play and YouTube.

Thanks to the partnership, users in the U.S. and Canada will be able to rent nearly 500 Paramount Pictures movies on Google Play, formerly known as the Android Market, and YouTube. Some of the titles users will now be able to rent include Captain America, Hugo, and The Adventures of Tin Tin, Coming to America and The Godfather. Many of these movies are already available, and the rest will be added over the coming months.

Most titles will be available for 48 hours once you begin watching, and HD versions of new releases will cost $4.99. Older releases will cost $3.99 for the HD version, and $2.99 for standard definition.

"Paramount Pictures is one of the biggest movies studios on the planet," Malik Ducard, director of content partnerships for YouTube, said in a statement. "We're thrilled to bring nearly 500 of their films to movie fans in the US and Canada on YouTube and Google Play."

Google was busy last year signing deals with indie and major studios to ramp up its video rental services. The Web giant now offers for rent more than 9,000 movies from Paramount, Sony Pictures, Universal, Walt Disney Studios and Warner Brothers, along with more than 10 indie studios, including Lionsgate Films, Magnolia, Starz, and The Weinstein Company. The only major studio Google hasn't cracked is 20th Century Fox.

"It's still early days for us, and we'll continue adding new titles and expanding our service to more countries this year," Malik Ducard, director of content partnerships at YouTube, wrote in a blog post Wednesday.

The news comes one day after Amazon added its Instant Video lineup to the PlayStation 3.

For more from Angela, follow her on Twitter @amoscaritolo.

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