Redbox Tries to Take on Netflix by Expanding Beyond DVD Rental Kiosks [War]

Redbox, the Coinstar-owned company who puts those nifty DVD rental kiosks everywhere, is outwardly plotting how you can take down Netflix. The 1st step: Offer more than 200 or so movies.

The company hopes to realize their goal with the aid of an internet service-which appears to be an instantaneous step into Netflix\’s territory. It\’ll have far to head though as Netflix currently offers \” 100,000 titles by mail and 20,000 older films online\” and there\’s various other competition:

Redbox also faces competition from Apple Inc. and Best Buy Co., which sell movie downloads. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the sector\’s largest retailer, bought the Vudu Inc. online entertainment service in February and Sears Holdings Corp., the biggest department store owner, said on June 22 it plans to sell and rent movies online through an agreement with Sonic.

An accord with Novato, California-based Sonic would spare Redbox the time and price of negotiating Web rights with studios, Schackart said. Sonic technology is already in DVD players and TVs, and the company has rights to thousands of films.

Whatever happens, I just hope that those little Redbox kiosks don\’t ever disappear. I kinda like seeing them tucked into odd corners. [Bloomberg]

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This post is tagged: beyond, dvd, Expanding, kiosks, NetFlix, Redbox, rental, Tries, [War]