Google Launches YouTube Movies in Canada to Compete with Netflix and iTunes

Google has announced the launch of YouTube Movies, a streaming entertainment service in Canada to compete against the likes of Netflix Canada and iTunes. Movies will be available to rent for $4-5 per movie, with 30 days to begin watching it and 48 hours to finish. Earlier this year, Google launched YouTube Movies in the US. The library has roughly 3000 titles of films and independent movies at launch.

Just navigate to YouTube.com/movies and you will see titles listed for $4.99 CDN. The library resembles Netflix, but with more new releases and selection. Customers will have to decide whether paying $8/month for Netflix (you can also try this trick to get access to the US Netflix library with your Netflix Canada account) is worth it compared to $4.99 for one title. If you miss ‘renting a movie’ than maybe YouTube Movies is the way to go.

Who’s going to give YouTube Movies a chance? Is this going to be the next best thing, or just another Google product launch that will fade away?

Want to see more of our stories on Google?

Add iPhone in Canada as a Preferred Source on Google

P.S. Want to keep this site truly independent? Support us by buying us a beer, treating us to a coffee, or shopping through Amazon here. Links in this post are affiliate links, so we earn a tiny commission at no charge to you. Thanks for supporting independent Canadian media!

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
11 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Guest
Guest
14 years ago

How is this better than iTunes? I can buy or rent movies there.

ThatGuy
ThatGuy
14 years ago

I would disagree, I think they are competing more with iTunes than Netflix. They are in the same price range and the only real difference is you can’t buy the movies with YouTube. Can you? Can you preview?

Mario Gaucher
14 years ago

will there be a way to watch those films on an Apple TV?

Mario Gaucher
14 years ago

will there be a way to watch those films on an Apple TV?

Mario Gaucher
14 years ago

will there be a way to watch those films on an Apple TV?

Noah Fang
Noah Fang
14 years ago

Price isn’t a big factor here. The selection is the key.. Netflex Canada has the price right, but it’s poor selection is the main reason preventing me from them. I know it’s not really their problem (Licensing issues in Canada)  ) and they are improving. Before NFC gets as many titles as the US library, I won’t jump on their boat…  

Neil Goldsworthy
Neil Goldsworthy
14 years ago

I can see using Youtube Movies for the odd “rental”, assuming there is some newer stuff that’s not available on Netflix here in Canada, but it could never replace Netflix for me, not at that price point. If anything, it’ll be a complementary service, not a competitor.

AbetterWorld
AbetterWorld
14 years ago

To the people that want USA Netflix and had problems with Hotspot Shield like I did, try the paid VPNs like SheildExchange Open VPN; works like a hot damn with no ads.

AbetterWorld
AbetterWorld
14 years ago

To the people that want USA Netflix and had problems with Hotspot Shield like I did, try the paid VPNs like SheildExchange Open VPN; works like a hot damn with no ads.

Anonymous
Anonymous
14 years ago

I think the YouTube movie is designed particularly for those Android phones just like iTune for iDevices. Google has to go this way in order to make Android phones and tablets more compiteable with iDevices. There is no way for any iDevices users to access it while there is iTune providing the same options.

Andrew Vaz
14 years ago

This doesn’t compete with Netflix at all. It is more inline with iTunes with it’s PPV model. I much prefer the subscription-based Netflix. Obviously Canada’s selection differs but that’s based on licensing it’s easy to see they are getting better.

Given the choice here I choose iTunes (for the odd rental where I want to catch a new release) based on the broader titles available and integration.

11
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x