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Redbox Teams With CinemaNow
Mon Nov 16, 2009 at 06:00 PM ETTags: Industry Trends, Redbox, CinemaNow (all tags)
Redbox and CinemaNow have announced they’re currently testing a program to determine the consumer demand for digital distribution.
With a good chunk of the studios and most of the video rental world at its heels, Redbox needs all the friends it can get. CinemaNow, on the other hand, seems to be hooking up with just about everyone these days. Together, they’re hoping to gauge the mass market demand for digital delivery.
Frequent customers of Redbox kiosks, and those who buy certain prepaid packages, will be given gift cards that will let them redeem titles on Roxio’s CinemaNow service. Representatives from Redbox would not say how far reaching the initiative is, but they did state that the program started on October 29th.
“We think this is a space that we should be testing in and understand better,” said Paul Davis, CEO of Redbox’s parent company Coinstar. “It’s an interesting space that we’d like to explore.”
CinemaNow appears to be the company that will receive the most benefit from the arrangement. After the announcement last week that the CinemaNow service would be embedded into electronics sold at Best Buy, this move seems to cater towards a different, but just as noteworthy, demographic.
Source: Video Business
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Redbox Sued Over Multi-Day Rental Fees
Wed Oct 28, 2009 at 04:00 PM ETTags: Redbox (all tags)
Redbox is in court again, but this time it’s consumers that are suing. A class action lawsuit filed in an Illinois circuit court alleges that Redbox illegally collected over $100 million in rental fees for discs that were returned after the 24 hour rental period.
Customers upset with the fees they paid for rentals have taken Redbox to court. Based on the advertising slogan that promised “$1 a night DVD Rentals” with “no late fees… ever”, customers are accusing the company of misrepresenting the actual fees of using the service.
The court document states that two classes of Redbox customers are represented. The first are customers that returned their DVDs after the designated 24 hour time and were made to pay for an additional day. These customers claim that the fee charged for an additional rental day are excessive.
The second class of customers represented is made of people that were charged the maximum amount of $25. This fee is charged only when a DVD is severely late or missing. The customers claim that $25 for a missing DVD is far above what a retail DVD would cost and three times the amount of a used DVD from Redbox, and that this fee too is excessive.
The suit involves counts of statutory fraud by omission, unfair practice, unlawful penalties, and violations of Illinois rental and contract laws.
Source: Courthouse News (PDF)
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Redbox Tests Disc Sales Through Kiosks
Tue Oct 20, 2009 at 01:00 PM ETTags: Redbox, Industry Trends, High-Def Retailing (all tags)
In a move that’s a bit less appealing than their ever popular $1 rental kiosks, Redbox has announced DVD sales kiosks.
Clad in black rather than the iconic red, the new “Vidigo” kiosks will test consumer desire to make full DVD and Blu-ray purchases through kiosks. While no definitive information exists on Blu-ray pricing, DVDs will run between $19.95 and $20.95.
Current Vidigo kiosks are essentially Redbox kiosks colored black, but the new kiosks will be designed with space in mind, and will be smaller and slimmer. The new space saving design was created with the hope that Vidigo kiosks will be featured in convenience stores rather than large retail locations.
These ‘sell through’ kiosks would be in direct competition with stores that already sell DVDs, but certainly appeal to studios like Fox and Warner who have less than favorable opinions of the Redbox rental kiosks.
Source: Video Business
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Paramount Launches Trial License Program for Redbox
Thu Aug 27, 2009 at 11:00 AM ETTags: Paramount, Redbox, High-Def Retailing (all tags)
Thanks to a recent agreement between Redbox and Paramount Home Entertainment, Paramount titles will be available day and date at Redbox kiosks until the end of 2009
In what Redbox president Mitch Lowe calls “a positive step”, Paramount has agreed to a trial program wherein Redbox will receive DVD and Blu-ray titles on the day of release from Paramount, and in exchange Redbox will destroy said titles as soon as they are removed from the kiosks.
The trial period will last until the end of 2009, according to a press release from the companies, with Paramount reserving the option to extend the deal until 2014 should they desire. There is also an out clause, allowing Paramount to break the contract after two years.
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Redbox Sues 20th Century Fox Over DVD Delays
Thu Aug 13, 2009 at 04:30 PM ETTags: Redbox, Fox (all tags)
Apparently Blu-ray reviewers aren't the only folks Fox is slow to send titles to.
A lawsuit filed by Redbox says Fox’s 30 day delay on new DVDs is unfair.
20th Century Fox is being sued for unfair practices by the increasingly popular DVD rental company Redbox. The suit is based on a recent request from Fox to its wholesalers to put a 30 day delay on sales to Redbox, a move which appears to have caught the ire of Redbox execs.
“At the expense of consumers, 20th Century Fox is attempting to prohibit timely consumer access to its new release DVDs at Redbox retail locations nationwide,” said Mitch Lowe, president of Redbox. He went on to state that Fox will have no effect on their efforts. “Despite this attempt, Redbox will continue to provide our consumers access to all major new releases including 20th Century Fox titles at our more than 15,000 Redbox DVD rental locations”
Redbox has issued a press release on the subject noting that just yesterday they signed a deal with Lionsgate, and referencing their mutually beneficial July deal with Sony.
Fox isn’t convinced though, they believe that Redbox is abusing their ability to price their rentals low. “This lawsuit aims to limit Fox's ability to make legitimate business decisions, and Fox believes it will prevail in defeating Redbox's meritless claims,” said a spokesman from Fox on the subject.
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More Blu-ray In The Immediate Future For Redbox
Thu Aug 06, 2009 at 04:00 PM ETTags: High-Def Rentals, Redbox (all tags)
Record profits spur expansion for the increasingly popular rental service.
In 2008, Coinstar made $73 million in profit from Redbox kiosks. In the first half of 2009, they’ve made $58 million. That’s around eighty percent of the money in just half the time, and it leaves Redbox execs wanting only one thing: MORE!
In a conference call with investors on August 4th, Redbox chairman Paul Davis stated that both video games and Blu-ray discs were in the immediate future for Redbox. Said Davis, “We plan to extend the current product offering by testing video games, Blu-ray, and a broader title base.”
He also spoke on the recent deal with Sony Pictures, which sees Redbox stocking about 20% Sony DVDs and giving up reselling rights, meaning that when the discs are done being rented, they will be destroyed. “We wouldn’t do deals that we didn’t believe were margin/dollar positive at the end of the day.”
Those interested can read the entire transcript of the call here.
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Sony Inks Deal With Redbox For Distribution
Tue Jul 28, 2009 at 02:00 PM ETTags: High-Def Rentals, Sony, Redbox (all tags)
Yet Blu-ray mention remains curiously absent...
Redbox automated kiosks are ever increasing their presence. They can be found in Walmart, Walgreens, and even McDonald’s locations around the globe. Now, thanks do a deal with Sony, they’re increasing their selection.
The new deal, announced in a press release last week, will allow Redbox access to Sony Pictures Home Entertainment titles, both new releases and classics. “Our consumers have always been the best barometer of where our business needs to go, and clearly Redbox has become an important distribution option,” said David Bishop of the arrangement.
Curiously absent though, was the mention of Blu-ray discs. It’d be hard to believe that Sony doesn’t want their Blu-rays in Redbox kiosks across America, perhaps we’ll see more as this develops.
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Sony Inks Deal With Redbox For Distribution
Tue Jul 28, 2009 at 02:00 PM ETTags: High-Def Rentals, Sony, Redbox (all tags)
Yet Blu-ray mention remains curiously absent...
Redbox automated kiosks are ever increasing their presence. They can be found in Walmart, Walgreens, and even McDonald’s locations around the globe. Now, thanks do a deal with Sony, they’re increasing their selection.
The new deal, announced in a press release last week, will allow Redbox access to Sony Pictures Home Entertainment titles, both new releases and classics. “Our consumers have always been the best barometer of where our business needs to go, and clearly Redbox has become an important distribution option,” said David Bishop of the arrangement.
Curiously absent though, was the mention of Blu-ray discs. It’d be hard to believe that Sony doesn’t want their Blu-rays in Redbox kiosks across America, perhaps we’ll see more as this develops.
See what people are saying about this story in our forums area, or check out other recent discussions.
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