Redbox rental kiosks have been providing consumers with quick and inexpensive movie rentals for over ten years now. Founded in 2002, the company now offers a wide array of movies and video games which can be rented for a fix priced each day. Unlike video stores of the past, Redbox’s system allows its users to rent for just one day, or several days. The company now boasts over 3 billion rentals, and has thousands of kiosks across North America. As a part of the every entertainment industry, Redbox is no stranger to news converge. Here are the biggest Redbox news stories of 2014.
5. Redbox price increase.
Originally, Redbox’s rental price was set at just $1 per day; however, in 2011 the company decided to raise the price on rentals by 20 cents. In August, reports began to surface that the company was considering raising its prices yet again. According to Consumerist, Redbox was already testing out its new prices, $1.50 for DVDs and $2 for Blu-Ray discs, in certain markets across the country. However, according to Redbox.com the company has no plans to raise (or decrease) any prices.
4. Redbox names Mike Saska senior vice president of content
Redbox has officially named Mike Saska as the company’s head of content. Saska has a long track record working in the film entertainment industry and has served as the executive vice president and general manager, theatrical new releases, at Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. Redbox president, Mark Horak, who believes that Saska’s new appointment will be good for the company, said in a statement: “The appointment of industry veteran Mike Saksa, and the creation of an LA-based content marketing team, will allow us to work more closely with studios and publishers interested in leveraging Redbox’s deep relationships with millions of consumers to drive incremental revenue for their new release titles.”
3. Redbox Instant likely to be discontinued.
Last year, Redbox announced that they would be teaming up with Verizon to introduce a video streaming service called Redbox Instant. This service was supposed to work similarly to the video streaming powerhouse Netflix. However, it quickly became obvious that Redbox Instant could not compete with Netflix due to Redbox’s limited selection and poor video streaming quality. Due to these shortcomings, recent reports have shown that Redbox Instant may soon be a thing of the past.
2. Redbox set to close more than 500 kiosks.
During the spring, Netflix announced that they would be removing over 500 rental kiosks nationwide. This decision comes after the numbers have shown that the company has reached its growth potential.
1. ecoATM
Outerwall Inc, the company responsible for designing Redbox’s kiosks, has recently unrolled new machinery that will hopefully encourage people to recycle their unused electronics. These ecoATM machines allow users to insert an unused electronic device into the machine, which will then be evaluated, and allow users to be paid in cash immediately.
(Photo by George Frey/Getty Images)
