The deal will cost $100 million and will take the kiosk operations away from NCR, more known for ATMs at banks than movie rentals. NCR had previously posted $13 million operating loss, but it’s not clear if that was directly related to losses on its movie rental kiosks or not. The transaction is expected to close in Q3 of 2012.

This has some interesting ramifications in the movie rental industry. Redbox recently refused to sign an agreement with Warner Bros. that would have delayed the rental titles coming to the kiosk locations by 56 days rather than the current 28 days. By refusing to sign the agreement, Redbox will be forced to spend more to purchase the DVDs it places in its kiosks, but it will not have to hold to any delay in offering titles for rent.

“The acquisition includes the purchase of the DVD kiosks, certain retailer contracts, and DVD inventory,” Redbox said in a statement. “In connection with the asset purchase, Coinstar and NCR also will enter into a strategic supplier arrangement where Coinstar will purchase product and services from NCR.”

[via CNET]

Exactly what content will be available to stream is unclear; currently content owners prefer traditional DVD and Blu-ray rentals and sales for newer media, leaving subscription-based streaming to pick up movies and TV shows later on in the lifecycle. Verizon and Redbox describe the IPTV aspect as including “expanded content offerings” suggesting back catalog shows and older films, though that’s not yet confirmed.

Still, with Verizon involved, streaming direct to phones and tablets looks like a given. Whether the carrier will also release mobile apps for devices on other networks is a good question; not doing so might encourage would-be streaming subscribers to also ink an agreement on Verizon’s network for their next phone or tablet, but it could also work to limit its appeal.

Verizon will own 65-percent of the new venture, with Redbox picking up the remaining 35-percent. The two companies say they’ll announce more pricing details, as well as branding, closer to the point of launch, which is in the second half of the year.

That expired deal means that Redbox can no longer buy DVDs directly from Warner Bros. at discounted rate, and will instead have to buy DVDs and Blu-ray’s in bulk from retailers such as Walmart. That will cost Redbox more money in the long run and may possibly lead to higher rental prices. The good news for customers is that this means an end to the 28-day delay and proposed 56-day delay before Warner Bros. movies find their way into Redbox kiosks. Warner notes it is still holding out hopes it can come to an agreement with Redbox.

Warner is pushing for the longer delays in hopes that consumers will either buy the movies at retail or rent them via pay-per-view where Warner makes more money. I hope Redbox doesn’t cave, as long as prices for rentals through Redbox don’t increase significantly; this is the way to force movie studios like Warner Bros. to understand that consumers and companies shouldn’t have to wait for movies.

[via LA Times]

The announcement came during this week’s quarterly earnings conference call. The call had an ultimately positive vibe to it, as Netflix managed to gain back 600,000 of the 800,000 subscribers it lost in the previous quarter. The quarter in question was the first time the online company saw a dip in its user base.

The last time Netflix entertained the idea of adding video games to its mix was in October, when CEO Reed Hastings was quoted as saying there were still internal discussions about its viability. But the truth is Gamefly has a very strong stranglehold on that market, and there is already competition from Blockbuster Online, as well as Redbox kiosks. For streaming content, which is the direction Netflix is clearly heading, there’s OnLive, and there’s no way Netflix would invest in the resources necessary to compete in that nascent market. So for now, your remote lives with Netflix and your joystick lives with Gamefly. Those streams will not cross any time soon.

[via USA Today]

The move is not surprising considering that rivals such as Netflix, and previously Blockbuster, have all added game rentals to supplement the diminishing income from movie rentals. The company plans to place games in over 21,000 of its kiosks, with a rental price of $2 per day for games. The company currently charges $1 per day for DVD movies and $1.50 for Blu-Ray movies.

Game titles will be available for the Wii, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. The company has decided to exclude handheld games such as those for the Nintendo DS and 3DS, placing their focus for now on the home console market. Just like with Redbox movies, customers can pick up games on the go or reserve online ahead of time. Alll titles will be available at the kiosks on their first week of launch but not necessarily on their street date.

[via Gamasutra]

[Image credit: Matt Mendick]

So, you can imagine my surprise when I got a receipt from Redbox for a movie rental. It was a receipt for “Let Me In.” That’s a good movie. I saw it in the theater. I rented the original version from Netflix. I never rented the movie from Redbox. And I certainly never rented the movie from a Walmart in North Carolina. I live in Texas, near Dallas.

It was easy to figure out from the email what must have happened. The email receipt gives the last four digits of the renter’s credit card, and they don’t match any credit card of mine. I double-checked with my banks, and there are no charges on any account from Redbox. Nothing on my wife’s account, either.

Furthermore, the email didn’t come to my normal email address. It came to a private address I use only for testing phones. It’s a fake name.

My assumption is that someone with a very similar name typed their email address incorrectly. Thus, I get their receipts. I called Redbox, and that was their first suggestion, as well. They told me this happens all the time.

I was still unnerved. Of course, when I get a fake receipt claiming to have charged my credit card, my first thought is always a phishing scam. I recently got an email claiming that I had made a rather hefty purchase from “Bobijou, Inc.” I responded to that email, which was a mistake, but I didn’t give them any more information. When I started getting more spam from them, I googled the name.

Bobijou, Inc. is an email used in a common scam. They send you a fake receipt, claiming to have billed your card. When you reply, they get more contact information from you. At worst, they try to get you to send your credit card number, presumably so they can ‘verify’ the transaction. Then they start racking up charges.

Having recently received the Bobijou, Inc. email, I was skeptical about the Redbox issue, but when I called they promised to remove my email address. I wouldn’t get any more receipts. Or so they said.

I got more receipts. I’ve gotten about 6 or 7 so far. I deleted the first few, but now I’m keeping them. It is possible that Redbox deleted my email address as promised, but then the person reentered it again. Now I’m getting more suspicious.

When I got the email from Redbox marked “Important: Confirm your email address and get a free rental,” I was more than suspicious. I was furious. Instead of confirming my email address and giving the moron using my fake name to rent movies a free rental, I sent Redbox an email explaining the problem again. I told them I wanted the emails to stop, and I now consider them spam. I threatened to sue under the CAN-SPAM act.

I got an email back from Redbox the next day. They assured me that I was not charged for the rental, and none of my personal information has been compromised. Well, except for the email address, of course. But I figured that would be the end of it. Once again I was wrong.

I received another receipt. Was someone entering my email incorrectly every single time? This seems like too much a coincidence. I called Redbox and asked them to shut down the account. They refused. They claimed I couldn’t ask to shut down another user’s account.

“But if someone has signed up using my email address, it’s my account. I want my account deactivated.”

They still refused. So I escalated to a supervisor.

The supervisor, Rasheeda, wouldn’t budge. I offered a suggestion. Do they have a phone number? A postal address? Can they get in touch with this person any other way to let them know they are entering the wrong address? No.

They have a credit card, though, and it isn’t under my fake name. I asked if the name on the credit card matched my email address. I asked if it was even close. If it’s off by one letter, or if it’s similar, then I could possibly understand the mistake.

But it wasn’t. It was a completely different name. She wouldn’t tell me the name, but she said it was totally different.

This is not a mistake. This is fraud. Maybe this person doesn’t have an email address. Maybe they just don’t want to get the spam that I’m getting. In any case, someone is using my email address to rent movies. Sure, they aren’t charging my credit card, but it’s still wrong, and I wanted it stopped.

Rasheeda still wouldn’t budge. Redbox is content to let their customers commit fraud. They don’t mind if you use someone else’s email address, as long as they get paid. They suggested I contact my email provider. I use Gmail.

“But this has nothing to do with Google,” I protested. “Google didn’t give out my email address. Google isn’t letting someone use my address. Whether this is a mistake or a fraud, I want it fixed.”

There is an easy fix. Turn off the account. The next time this person tries to rent a movie, they will have to enter a new address. Redbox should bar them from using my email again. Create a new account for me, and tie my address to it. That way when someone tries to register my address, it’s already in use.

Rasheeda wouldn’t budge. The only thing she would do is turn off my subscription to the emails. So, someone can still fraudulently use my address, I just won’t be notified when they do. How is this a solution, exactly?

It isn’t. Redbox is complicit in this customer’s fraud. I told them as much, and demanded that it stop. But they wouldn’t budge. If they had just signed me up for an account and locked my email address to me, I might have started using the service. But their service is shady, their managers are unreasonable, and I will never use a service that helps its members commit fraud.

Redbox is set to take the fight to Netflix according go the LA Times. Netflix is reportedly looking to launch a streaming movie service for subscribers that would allow the user to rent movies on a per title basis rather than paying a monthly fee for all they can watch.

The service would have a monthly fee option that would allow the user to watch streaming films on multiple devices and rent discs at kiosks as well. That last option sounds appealing if the monthly fee is in the right range. The worst part about Netflix is waiting for the movies or finding out that what you really wanted to see didn’t ship. At this point, an exact time frame for the new Redbox service is unknown.

The idea is a pretty simple one. Instead of letting people rent movies on a DVD, Flix on Stix wants to let people use their own USB flash drives, or let them use one offered by the kiosk itself, to watch whatever movie they want. While there are talks about offering pre-loaded USB drives via the kiosk, it seems that the most likely event will be making customers bring their own, and then transferring the film onto it.

Price wise, Flix on Stix is aiming low. $1 for three days; $2 for six days; $3 for nine days; and $4 for 12 days. And, as we mentioned above, you won’t have to worry about returning the flash drive to the kiosk. Instead, the company behind the idea wants to include software with the rental that would make it automatically refuse playback after a certain amount of days.

All of the kiosks will be installed with USB 3.0 ports, making it possible for those who have spent the money on a USB 3.0 flash drive to have quick installs of their movies. However, unless a major price shift happens by the time Flix on Stix happens, it’s likely to assume that the majority of people won’t have USB 3.0 drives. That means some long waits at the kiosk as you’re movie downloads and installs onto your flash drive. Will anyone really want to wait that long, when Redbox is remarkably quicker, or they can just use Netflix? There’s no word on when, or if, this idea will really hit the market any time soon, but if someone can put enough money behind the idea, we won’t be surprised to see these vending machines pop up in some big cities.

[via UhGizmo!]

As Mike Masnick from TechDirt says, “Making it more difficult to let people watch movies the way they want to isn’t a solution that will work long term,” especially when it comes to a format like DVD (that will eventually go the way of the dodo like the VHS.) Time Warner Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bewkes said today on conference call with Bloomberg “So far the 28-day window has clearly been a success versus no delay … The question of whether we ought to go longer is very much under scrutiny. It may well be a good idea.” This is just like when they release Harry Potter in hardcover before the cheaper, more reasonably sized softcover. I just get so frazzled just thinking about it! Really, this is a real first-world problem.

[Via TechDirt]

From Around the Web

Sony PS3 Surround Speaker Bar Ships Next Week for $180: Sony originally unveiled their Surround Sound System for the PlayStation 3 back at E3 this year, and since then, those who could remember its announcement have eagerly been anticipating its launch. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen all that quickly. But Sony’s about to fix that, as they’ve announced today that the Surround Sound Bar is heading to the market beginning next week. The speaker features an integrated subwoofer, and has plenty of different sound presets, including night, vivid, or standard. You can even change the bar into night mode, so that some sounds are accented and others are not, based on how loud the volume is turned up. The Surround Sound Bar should hit retail shelves next week, and it will come with a price tag of $180. [via Electronista]

R3 Media Network

SlashGear

Steve Jobs Hands Out iPods to Chilean Miners
Apple is Awarded Limited Patent for Pinch-to-Zoom on Multitouch Displays
Redbox Extends Video Game Rentals to More Kiosks
Apple’s “Lion” of an Event is October 20th
Apple Acquired Patent for Anti-Sexting Text Messages
Nokia N8 Costs $187 to Make

Android Community

Motorola’s Tegra 2 Device Heading to AT&T First
Advent Vega Tablet Hands-On

SlashPhone

Motorola DEFY Lands in Germany
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While choosing a DVD, or Blu-ray, is easy enough from the kiosk itself, customers can also use the Redbox website to “reserve” movies for a later pick-up. The company is using that same method for video game rentals as well, giving customers the option for finding titles on the website, and then find a local kiosk to pick up the title. As of now, it looks like Redbox is still supporting Microsoft’s Xbox 360, Nintendo’s Wii and DS handheld, as well as Sony’s PlayStation 3. Sony’s PSP has apparently been passed over in the national roll-out.

According to Mashable, Redbox is expanding the video game rental tests to “additional markets in the West, Midwest and Atlantic coast.” Redbox is continuing the testing phase, though, considering the national roll-out as just a continuation of the test, to “gauge consumer interest in video game rentals.” As far as selectable titles, Redbox is sticking with new releases, as well as top-selling titles. Customers will be charged $2 per day, and the titles can be kept as long as you need, as long as you’re okay with the charges recurring every day.

[via Mashable]

This is the reason why there are Redbox kiosks popping up all over the place. The last time I was checking a Redbox kiosk I noticed one single Blu-ray film in the library. Redbox has now announced that it is renting Blu-ray films with the price reportedly at $1.50 per night.

You can hop over to the Redbox Blu-ray page and put in your zip code to find kiosks in your area packed with Blu-ray titles. Too bad this will do nothing to get the flicks into the Redbox catalog faster.

In my town of 100,000 people, there is exactly one movie store left. It’s far from me and I won’t use it. All six of the Blockbuster stores and other major rental chains have closed their doors over the last few months. That leaves me with one Blockbuster kiosk and a hoard of redbox locations that I can rent movies from. If I can’t see a flick within the first week or so that it’s on DVD, I just don’t see it typically.

At least one studio has a bit of sense when it comes to how lots of us rent films today. Paramount Home Entertainment and Redbox have announced a new multi-year agreement that will have Paramount films landing in redbox kiosks on the day they titles launch for the sell-through market. It’s good to know that at least one studio doesn’t expect me to wait a month to rent a film with Redbox.

Out of the gate, Redbox is offering 24-hour video game rentals of minimal stock, for $2.00. It’s as easy to rent the games as it was the movies, but you shouldn’t expect to find a lot there. They are covering all of the major consoles though: Xbox 360, PlayStation 2 and 3, the Nintendo Wii and DS(i), as well as Sony’s PSP. And while it may be fantastic to dream that the Redbox could some how deliver you your PSP Go! titles when it launches later in the year, that’s not likely.

For now, Redbox is keeping the video game distribution to Reno, Nevada for its test run. It’s not a surprise to us that Redbox is going this route, especially considering the population’s eagerness to rush into the digital media age. But, how long can they compete with other sources like Blockbuster, which offers a five-day rental of a game for only $9.00. And while many hail to GameFly’s library and pricing, they still cannot provide the sort of instant gratification that many want after making a purchase, especially with a video game.

[via Hot Hardware]