Last year Redbox fell victim to the same deal that has plagued the Netflix DVD mailing service for a while now – they must wait 28 days after the DVD goes on sale before they can stock the title for rent in their kiosks. This deal hit Redbox pretty hard as reports are putting Redbox rental revenue down by as much as $50 million in fourth quarter of last year. So what’s a DVD rental service to do? Go online.
According to the LA Times, Redbox is positioning itself to offer an online video streaming service for a monthly subscription which will be a direct competitor to Netflix’s “Watch Instantly” service. Redbox also noted that they will launch this digital service with a partner, but didn’t name who that partner would be. There is some speculation that this secret partner could be Amazon.com – who just three weeks ago inadvertently started some excitement over the possibility that they too would be offering a streaming video subscription service. For some reason, Redbox and Amazon seem like an unlikely duo to be teaming up, but there are a few points that make sense. First, Netflix has pretty much cornered the online video streaming subscription market unchallenged, so they are going to be difficult to compete with and lure customers away from. Secondly, Redbox stated their subscription service would allow customers access to the kiosks for physical DVD’s as well – something that’s already set up. It would make sense for Amazon to perhaps look at this as a plus as they wouldn’t have to offer their own DVD mailing option to customers – a feature that despite all of the online streaming options available today, Netflix customers still enjoy to have.
It’s hard to say what exactly would be the best way for Redbox and Amazon to enter the online streaming service fray – together or apart – but it does definitely look like they both have some sort of plan up their sleeves and my guess we will find out a little later this year if our online video streaming subscription service options include “Netflix, Amazon, or Redbox”, or “Netflix or Amazon/Redbox”.
One last thought: How the hell is Blockbuster still around?!