Redbox Ends Streaming Service, Movie Rental Kiosks Next To Go?
Love streaming movies through Redbox Instant? Enjoy it while you can because it’s going away this week. Just 18 months after Redbox introduced its movie streaming service, the company is shutting it down for good on Oct. 7.
Engadget reports that the service didn’t do as well as Outerwall, Redbox‘s parent company, had hoped. Coupled with a credit card fraud incident that prevented new customers from signing up for the service over the past three months, it’s not a big surprise that it is getting the axe.
“The joint venture partners made this decision after careful consideration. The service had not been as successful as either partner hoped it would be.”
While it’s the end of the road for Redbox Instant by Verizon, there are no plans to stop offering DVD and Blu-Ray rentals via the big red kiosks located at grocery stores, gas stations and convenience stores across the nation. In fact, the company continues to promote its popular movie rental service online, with frequent tweets and texts that lure users in with discounts and freebies.
Text SCOOP to 727272, and we’ll text you deals all October.* More details: http://t.co/e6QcKYwd4T http://t.co/ahdk9UFYhT
— Redbox (@redbox) September 28, 2014
Redbox Instant by Verizon will officially shut down on Tuesday at 11:59 p.m. PT, with The Huffington Post reporting that current subscribers were recently sent an email notifying them of the termination of the service. The company states that it will be addressing refund issues in an upcoming email, scheduled to go out on October 10.
Subscribers who signed up for Redbox Instant were able to stream movies from the online catalog and get four DVD rentals, all for $6 per month. TechCrunch states that customers were led to believe that they would have access to the latest movies by offering a rental and streaming combo, but “it really just never caught on.”
ReCode.net writes that Redbox’s streaming service was not the “Netflix-killer” it was intended to become and subscribers only had access to an “uninspiring catalog of online videos.”
“If you’re counting, this is the second big “Netflix-killer” to die without killing Netflix. What’s that? You don’t remember Dish’s Blockbuster streaming service? Exactly.”
Have you been using Redbox’s movie streaming service or do you find more value in other services like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Instant?
[Image: Redbox Twitter]
