Warner 'Likes' Facebook Rentals

The Wall Street Journal
March 9, 2011
By Michelle Kung and Geoffery A. Fowler

Trying to find a fresh source of revenue, Warner Bros. Entertainment will begin renting movies via Facebook.  Facebook has become an increasingly popular site for uploading and streaming videos, but hasn't made any indications it is planning to launch a paid video service of its own - it is happy to take a cut of the sales from another party for now.  The cost to rent a movie is $3, and the first movie to be offered will be "The Dark Knight."  This shows that studios cannot count solely on DVD sales anymore and are movie towards social media distribution.  For now, it seems Facebook will not be a short term threat to Netflix, but the long term is yet to be determined.