The UK online DVD rental market appears to be hotting up still further with the entry of a new player into the market, Qflicks.

The move comes three months after the launch of two other entrants into the market, Screenselect.co.uk and Videoisland.com. All three are based on the US service pioneered by Netflix, and allow users to browse and order films over the internet. The DVDs are then dispatched by post and returned in pre-paid first class envelopes.

Qflicks offer two services currently: one costs £9.99 per month and entitles the customer to have up to one DVD out at a time; the other costs £14.99 and allows the customer to have up to 3 DVDs out at a time.

Qflicks says it adds 300 new titles to its collection every month, with the goal of stocking over 20,000 DVDs by the end of 2004 and, ultimately, every DVD published in Europe.

A privately funded company with British, European and American investors, Qflicks was founded by Mike Sharpe, a mobile phone entrepreneur and Roy Gunter, a former Siemens and Nokia executive.

Screenselect.co.uk is backed by the founder of Amazon UK, while the directors of rival service Videoisland.com include Simon Franks, chief executive of distributor Redbus.