Apple is “in advanced talks” to launch a movie rental service, according to the Financial Times. Apparently the studios are the ones spilling the beans, though they won’t comment on the record.

The service sounds quite reasonably priced and somewhat portable; it could be the shot in the arm video-on-demand has been needing. (Especially for us Mac users, who aren’t generally able to use other rental programs.) Says Matthew Garrahan at the FT,

A film would cost $2.99 for a 30-day rental. Its digital rights-management software would allow films to be moved from a computer to at least one other device such as the video iPod or iPhone. The software would prevent movies being copied.

Thirty days — that’s generous!

Disney, Paramount, Lionsgate, and MGM already sell movies on iTunes. Sony Pictures Entertainment, 20th Century Fox, and Warner Bros were also mentioned in the FT story. Apple, along with them, declined to comment.