Fox and Universal pull Cheap DVD Rental for RedBox

[Lord_Stewie]

Hey,

Mods, Not sure where I can post this, if wrong feel free to move. Thanks

To those of you frequent renters from the RedBox, this maybe a Bad News, even I am disappointed with this.

You’ve probably seen those DVD rental kiosks in your local Walmart, McDonald’s or supermarket. You might have even rented a movie for the very low price of $1 for one night from one of these machines. Easy quick and go rental seems like a very consumer friendly idea. So, of course, some of the major Hollywood studios are up in arms against it. Why are the studios so upset? The kiosks are apparently hurting their bottom line. The $1 rentals are supposedly hurting rental revenue and resales of used Redbox discs are hurting dvd sales.


Universal was the first to strike, ordering their wholesalers to stop supplying dvd titles to Redbox with 45 days of release. Redboz fired back with a lawsuit in October. Universal counter-sued, and a decision is expected any day from a federal judge. And now 20th Century Fox is joining the war against Redbox, ordering wholesalers to stop supplying disc to dvd rental kiosks within the first 30 days of release.

Here is the link:

http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/08/05/...s-from-redbox/

[MOONPHASE]

But still means they will eventually be in the Red Box anyways and hurt the sales on dvds, Blu-rays, and so on from these companies. It's only just a slight delay just so that these studios can make as much money off of their dvds and Blu-rays for a month and then just go downhill from there. I'll never use one of these machines anyways because I don't visit places that have these machines very often anyways so will probably get big late fees.

[Lord_Stewie]

Originally Posted by MOONPHASE

But still means they will eventually be in the Red Box anyways and hurt the sales on dvds, Blu-rays, and so on from these companies. It's only just a slight delay just so that these studios can make as much money off of their dvds and Blu-rays for a month and then just go downhill from there. I'll never use one of these machines anyways because I don't visit places that have these machines very often anyways so will probably get big late fees.

Your are right about this. However, the RedBox is supposed to be a consumer friendly deal. The fact that people have to wait 45 days before renting a Uni/Fox title may not sit well with people. sure people have to wait a little over a month, but that isn't really convenient to them. Majority of these people will not rent from Blockbuster.

[mikejet]

But mom and pop stores usually only charge $2 a night and release the movies A WEEK EARLY. I think that is worse than what Red Box does.

[fatediesel]

Interestingly, Redbox and Sony just struck an agreement that will allow Redbox to buy movies directly through Sony for a lower than wholesale price.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124813913097467201.html

[MOONPHASE]

Originally Posted by shadblz

Your are right about this. However, the RedBox is supposed to be a consumer friendly deal. The fact that people have to wait 45 days before renting a Uni/Fox title may not sit well with people. sure people have to wait a little over a month, but that isn't really convenient to them. Majority of these people will not rent from Blockbuster.

May hurt some people but majority is not really going to care.

[atomik kinder]

I typically only rent from Netflix, but have been noticing that the Redbox rental machines have been getting quite a bit of business lately. Every time I go to the grocery store or the Walgreens near me, there is almost always a line wating to use the machine. I guess it could really hurt the movie studios since you can get a rental for $1 a night, two nights would still only be $2. Blockbuster in my area charges over $5 for a two night rental. But how does Netflix work? I pay for the One at a time rental and can keep the movie as long as I want. If I keep it for a month... how much money is the studio going to make from that?

[Deadset]

What's wrong with someone trying to fill a need and finding a niche market?

As for netflix, I get about 8 movies a month for 8.99, so that's like $1.12 per movie. Plus whatever I can stream to my 360...What is the difference for Red Box? I see one at a gas station near my house, I've been tempted, but haven't tried it yet. Maybe I will. Hell, I could ride my 4-wheeler to return the movie it's so close.

The case isn't over and I seriously doubt Red Box will be shut down. I use netflix to screen movies to buy or not. Red Box is no different.

[EricJ]

Whew! What a relief:
Now Redbox has become so default trend-buzzworded among non-techie Hollywood execs as All-Purpose Industry Scapegoat Because Everyone's Talking About It, that now studios singlehandedly blame THEM for "Why DVD sales are down"...

...Now they won't pick on Netflix anymore!

(Oh, yeah. Redbox's the reason I'm not buying SD's anymore. Totally.
I just look at that big vending machine in the grocery, next to the carpet-cleaner rental and the lottery machines, and say, "We're here--This is what home theater can accomplish.")

[fatediesel]

Would Redbox be allowed to just buy DVDs from a store and stock the machines with them? I know a small video store near me used to go to Wal-Mart every Tuesday morning and buy all their movies there back in the days when Wal-Mart was selling DVDs below cost. In addition, I would think they could make a deal with another company to buy the movies at wholesale and then sell them to Redbox.

[Batman1980]

Red Box is in trouble anyway, they're not making money themselves off these rentals, $1 is just too low. I doubt they'll be open anymore past 2010 and I never used them so I could care less.

[fatediesel]

Originally Posted by Wolverine1980

Red Box is in trouble anyway, they're not making money themselves off these rentals, $1 is just too low. I doubt they'll be open anymore past 2010 and I never used them so I could care less.

Redbox made a $20.4 million profit in the 2008 4th quarter alone and expected to put as many as 8000 new machines into circulation in 2009, and it's owner Coinstar thought enough of it to buy out McDonald's 44% ownership stake for $150 million.

If Redbox rolled out Blu-ray rentals nationally I'd cut back a lot on my movie buying. I used Redbox this past Sunday because I wanted to watch the theatrical cut of Watchmen. I was able to just go online, search my area, and it was available at 6 of the 7 local locations, and I was able to reserve it online.

[Lord_Stewie]

Originally Posted by fatediesel

Would Redbox be allowed to just buy DVDs from a store and stock the machines with them? I know a small video store near me used to go to Wal-Mart every Tuesday morning and buy all their movies there back in the days when Wal-Mart was selling DVDs below cost. In addition, I would think they could make a deal with another company to buy the movies at wholesale and then sell them to Redbox.

I was thinking that this may have been their strategy from the start, not from wal-mart though. I thought they must have some kind of an agreement with a distribution company connected to studios. until the news of Uni/Fox broke out.

[Dr.Zoidberg]

I use netflix but do get a movie from time to time from redbox. I'm all for another company doing movie rentals

[fatediesel]

Stupid Universal. I want to rent the Last House on the Left but it is unable at all my area Redbox locations thanks to their ban. Maybe I'll go to Blockbuster and rent the Blu-ray. I didn't see it in theaters and like crappy horror remakes but don't want to spend $27 to blind buy it so I was hoping to get a cheap rental and then decide whether I'll buy it later.