Amazon Looks for Partner to Rent DVDs

Industry sources are saying that Amazon is looking to enter the online DVD rental market – although the retailer would rather partner with an already existing service than launch its own. According to Reuters, Amazon has already approached Netflix and Blockbuster, although no details were given as to the status of negotiations with either company.

Amazon is already in the online DVD rental business in the UK, having launched a service there late last year. All companies involved declined to comment on the information.

The current leader in the market is Netflix, which holds about a 75 percent share of revenues. Rumors around Amazon's plans first surfaced last year, which may have been the catalyst for nearly a 20 percent drop in subscription fees as Blockbuster and Netflix battled for customers.

According to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, the company is about to break even this year, and expects to add nearly one million subscribers by year's end; Netflix has about 3 million now. He also said that Amazon would have to spend a lot of money -- in the order of hundreds of millions -- just to catch up with the company.

Amazon, however, said it believes it could used its exiting 7 million customer accounts as a base to start the new venture quickly without a large expenditure of money.