Three Studios Say No to YouTube’s Movie Rental Plan

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YouTube may be moving ahead with plans to stream Hollywood movies on demand, but not all of the major studios have signed on. According to the Wrap, Fox, Paramount and Disney have all refused to a deal so far, with Fox and Paramount even confirming that their intention is to “not move forward with any deal at this time.” The reason: piracy.

The concern’s said to be that YouTube, Google’s parent company, supports pirate sites by including them in searches, linking to them and advertising on them. According to an anonymous source, executives at the studios have told the Internet behemoth that removing such support for piracy would be necessary for any near-future deals.

It doesn’t help that Paramount’s parent company Viacom is currently locking legal horns with Google over YouTube piracy of its content – ironically something that wouldn’t be the case if Viacom would license its content for official rentable streaming, as YouTube is trying to negotiate with Paramount.

Such worries aren’t bothering Warner Bros, Sony or Universal, all of which have closed deals to be launch partners of the new venture. Details of the streaming rental plan are still unknown at this time.

More on TIME.com:

YouTube to Go Hollywood with New Video-On-Demand Service

Royal Wedding Will Be Live On YouTube

YouTube Sends Copyright Pirates Back To School