YouTube's fledgling movie rental program will soon be taking an interesting twist: some content owners will soon be able to use a "self service" tool to charge for access to their videos, product manager Hunter Walk said this week in an interview with MediaPost.

Few details are currently available--none about revenue sharing, none regarding what kind of flexibility content owners will have over pricing, and no final timetable--but it's an interesting move on behalf of YouTube parent company Google, as it competes with Apple and Netflix for the growing online-video rental market.

YouTube first delved into rentals with a test in conjunction with the Sundance Film Festival. That, in connection with the company's development of an automated rental program, further suggests that the company is hoping to get a foothold with the creators of low-budget or niche films that may slip through the cracks at Apple's iTunes Store or Netflix's instant-watch menu.

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