There's no way I'm going to consume media as rentals. I look forward to seeing whether this makes way for steam as a more general media platform though - it's super exciting.
It seems inconceivable that they could catch up. What do they have going for them that Google doesn't have multiple times over? It's certainly not audience, capital, or technology.
I normally don't buy movies, but I might buy one in a sale. In fact, I don't actually know of any services that sell / stream them outside netflix (they exist, I'm sure). If valve can convince the movie industry to play by steam's rules, they can make money. Plus movies get access to advertising on the steam platform.
By the way, gamers are often pirates too. Giving them a platform and price point would go a long way.
http://www.ign.com/articles/2011/11/25/gabe-says-piracy-isnt...
I'm always reminded of this talk by Gabe Newell.
If it's just renting for 48 hours, that's even worse.