No reasonable person walked out of a Blockbuster thinking they permanently owned a rented film. There are plenty of transfers of currency without implied ownership.
This sounds counter intuitive, but the added friction is THE WHY they don't want to call it a rental on paper, only on appeals.
The same applies to concerts and weekend club: This is an event with a defined time limit.
You call a car leasing a leasing, you don't call it a sale with a small print.