Facebook moves into movie rentals with Warner Bros. deal

In a move that highlights Facebook's ever increasing presence in our daily digital lives, the social networking site announced with Warner Bros. that it would begin offering streaming movie rentals. The first movie to be offered would be The Dark Knight, available to those who liked the movie's page.

The title would be available for 30 Facebook credits or $3 USD, and the movie would be available for immediate viewing following purchase. Warner said that it plans to offer additional titles in the coming months, although it did not specify which movies would be sold.

"Making our films available through Facebook is a natural extension of our digital distribution efforts," digital distribution president Thomas Gewecke said. "It gives consumers a simple, convenient way to access and enjoy our films through the world's largest social network."

While watching the movie users will have full use of Facebook's various functions, the company said. Users would be able to pause, rewind, and pick up where they left off when logging back into the site. It would only be available to US users.

Facebook's efforts to move into the movie rental business are also rattling investors of the biggest online rental service, Netflix. In Tuesday afternoon trading, the company's stock was down over 5% with heavier than average volume. The company has seen its share price fall over the past few weeks as competitors move in on its turf, including e-tailer Amazon.com.