Google is reportedly in talks with the major Hollywood movie studios in order to secure content for its video rentals store. With Google TV on its way, this could bring Google in direct head-to-head battle with Apple and its new Apple iTV.

YouTube Video Rentals

YouTube has been offering video rentals since the beginning of the year, with offerings from the Sundance Film Festival the first to go live. The trial was deemed a success, and YouTube then opened the store for business on a permanent basis.

In May, YouTube began forging ahead with its plans to increase its video rental offerings, with content partners given the opportunity to sell their professionally-produced content.

Now, Google has even bigger plans.

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International rights licensing is the bane of the lives of those of us eager to see online video reach its full potential. This means that Hulu isn’t available to watch outside the U.S., and the BBC iPlayer is, adversely, not available to watch outside the U.K. At least for now.

BBC iPlayer

The BBC iPlayer is a fantastic service, and its popularity has grown massively since its launch three years ago this December. At its core is the ability to freely and easily watch BBC programming from the past seven days, but there is a lot more to it than that.

The latest version of the UI, iPlayer 3.0, puts social networking at the core, and it brings another element to bear. The BBC iPlayer is a must for all Brits to use. Any that don’t aren’t taking advantage of the fact they’re paying for the service through the license fee. Those that pay it, of course.

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YouTube is responsible for making some people very wealthy, or at least giving them the means to give up their day job. But how easy would it be to join the select band who make over $100,000 a year from their videos?

YouTube Fame

YouTube has made many people famous over the years since its launch. Some have been unwilling stars made famous by someone else uploading a video clip of them doing something which has spread across the Web. While others have made names for themselves by seizing an opportunity.

However, not all of these YouTube stars have actually made any money out of it. In fact, most probably haven’t seen a penny. But there are a select band of people making serious money from the videos they upload to YouTube.

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YouTube is now offering U.K. users the chance to watch hundreds of free movies, bringing the offering it rolled out in the U.S. last year across the Atlantic. Sure, the initial offerings aren’t exactly Hollywood A-list, but still.

YouTube Widens Net

YouTube has evolved by a vast amount since its early days. Copyright infringement has pretty much been eradicated, and the amount and variety of content that can be viewed on the site has increased exponentially.

Not content with being the ubiquitous destination for UGC, YouTube has also started offering professional content. There are now sections dedicated to TV shows, music videos, and movies.

The ‘Movies’ section has now made it to the U.K., with a number of deals allowing the site to offer a good number of free feature films.

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Hulu Plus is still at an early stage of life, having launched just two months ago. So what content, at this early stage, are subscribers actually getting for the $10-per-month asking price? Not that much, it would seem.

Hulu Plus

Hulu Plus, in case you’re wondering, is the premium, paid-for, subscription service newly offered by Hulu. We knew it was on its way months before any official details were revealed.

Hulu Plus finally launched at the end of June, with the $10-per-month service designed to sit happily alongside the free Hulu.com website.

Hulu Plus brings Hulu to a whole range of devices beyond the computer, with the PS3 and Xbox 360 games consoles, and the Apple iPad and iPhone early recipients.

However, as great as all this sounds, what do you actually get for your money? Research firm One Touch Intelligence decided to find out at this very early stage in the life of Hulu Plus.

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The good news is that Apple is pushing to secure a 99-cent price for individual episodes of shows for its customers. The bad news is that to do so it’s had to abandon plans for a monthly eat-all-you-can subscription offering. Shame.

iTV, iPad, iPhone

Apple is one of the companies best positioned to take advantage of the move to online and streaming video. Not only does it lead the way with its iTunes service, it also has a range of products on the market, or about to hit the market, able to deliver video.

Apple’s three mobile devices, the iPad, the iPhone, and the iPod Touch are all capable of streaming high quality video. The iPad in particular is a device designed with the delivery of content in mind.

Meanwhile, the Apple TV is all but dead, with the iTV set to replace it. This will be cheap, cheerful, and designed for the mainstream. Giving it a good chance of succeeding.

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These are exciting times for online video, with the combined targets of the living room and mobile devices signaling the start of something huge. Viva la revolution, as someone may have once said.

The Revolution Begins

In terms of the Web being accessed by computers, online video has made its mark. The likes of YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, and the iPlayer have all been massive hits and proved beyond any doubt that the consumption of digital media is the future.

So it’s now time to ramp the effort up, with the living room the next big target. The ultimate goal must surely be to disable the big TV and movie studios’ abilities to control the marketplace.

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