The Financial Times is reporting that Apple has struck a deal with Fox to bring video rentals to the iTunes store. While we've been hearing rumors for a while that Apple would start offering a rental option (right now you can either pay to "buy" TV shows or movies or take your business elsewhere), we find the Fox deal a bit puzzling.

Why? Because Apple has a strong relationship with Disney, which is the only studio currently offering new release DVD titles for sale via iTunes. So if Apple wanted to get into the video rental business, we would have expected Disney titles to be available at launch.

Of course, the Financial Times reports Apple and News Corp both declined to comment on the deal. While the paper's sources are saying that Fox movies will be available soon, perhaps we'll see video rentals from other studios as well?

Apple is hardly the first online video distributor to offer movie rentals. Amazon, CinemaNow, MovieLink, and other services have been offering downloads that self-destruct after a limited time for ages. But Apple is still probably the biggest name in online video sales, so if the company could shake up the young market if it makes the leap into lower-priced rentals.

We can probably expect an official announcement, or at least a few more details, in a few weeks.

[via tuaw]