The president of Redbox, Mitch Lowe, announced at the Entertainment Supply Chain Academy Edge conference yesterday that the DVD rental kiosks will soon offer Blu-ray rentals, likely for $1.50 per night. A nightly rental from a Redbox kiosk for a regular DVD movie is currently priced at the rate of $1.00 per night.
Lowe cites NPD Group data Redbox’s decision to start carrying Blu-ray discs, and states that 16.9% of their customers currently own Blu-ray players. Lowe hopes that the move will help increase the rate of Blu-ray adoption, as Redbox is an influential force in the rental market with a 23% share.
Redbox has not yet announced a date when customers can expect to see Blu-ray rentals available at their local kiosks, but Lowe says that they will start appearing over the next few months. Redbox already has a page on their website for checking the availability of Blu-ray rentals in a specific zip-code. I tried zip codes for several major US metropolitan areas, but so far only get the message, “We're sorry, but we are unable to locate a redbox near you.”
This is another big change for Redbox, who just last month announced an agreement with Twentieth Century Fox and Universal Studios to wait 28 days after the street date before offering new DVD releases for rental. This agreement, and another with Warner Home Video, also included Blu-ray releases and was designed to help calm the studios concerns over declining DVD movie sales.
While some may scoff at the 50 cent increase for Blu-ray rentals, I believe the price is still fair and enticing to consumers, especially when considering that the cost to buy a new Blu-ray movie ranges from $11 to $39.99. This should be a good move for Redbox to increase their own business and to help drive the Blu-ray market in a positive direction.
