Online movie watching is getting another boost as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer has agreed to infuse Google’s YouTube rental service with hundreds of classic titles.

Google has been beefing up its rental service since the launch in 2010, and MGM join the ranks of Sony Pictures, Warner Bros, Universal and Lionsgate. MGM, the company behind the iconic roaring lion, has nearly 90 years of film-making under its belt. The YouTube blog points out that along with MGM, both YouTube and Google Play users enjoy access to five-out-of-the-six major studios (minus Fox) as well as more than 10 indie studios.

What this all means is that YouTube and Google Play users in the US and Canada will be able to rent more than 600 titles. YouTube’s past deals with the other studios has priced rentals at around $1.99-3.99. Classic titles you can look forward to include West Side Story, Moonstruck, The Terminator, Robocop, Rain Man and Rocky.

“MGM is delighted to share our library of classic titles with YouTube and Google Play users,” said John Bryan, MGM’s president of Domestic Television Distribution. “We are always looking for opportunities to bring our world-class library to new audiences in innovative ways, which is exactly what this partnership with Google delivers.”

Of course, you’ve probably seen some of those titles already from Netflix or iTunes—the big kids on the block. But this deal with MGM comes only two weeks after a deal with Paramount was struck. YouTube has definitely made strides to up its content offerings, a smart move considering its millions of global users.

In general, more online content, whether from YouTube, Netflix, iTunes, or Prime, aids the trend of increased online movie watching we’ve seen IHS Screen Digest and Ooyala predicting. Good bye DVDs? Hello smartphones, pads and desktops.

Via Mashable

Photo credit: MGM

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