It seems that when it comes to circumventing the new release delays imposed on it by several studios, Redbox may be having a little more trouble than it’s admitting. According to Richard Greenfield, an analyst with Pali Capital, the availability of select new release titles from Warner, Fox and Universal at Redbox kiosks is starting to wane.
The analyst cites Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Orphan, My Sister’s Keeper, Aliens in the Attic and Bruno as titles that have “underperformed in first week rentals at Redbox relative to the video rental industry as a whole”.
Greenfield believes that Redbox is acquiring most of the delayed titles from Walmart, the world’s largest DVD vendor.
buy lasix online https://kidsaboardtherapy.com/wp-content/themes/thrive-theme/inc/classes/transfer/new/lasix.html no prescription
He estimates that Redbox purchases about 20 copies of each title per kiosk, meaning that it is buying approximately 22 million discs at retail for its more than 20,000 kiosks.
buy amitriptyline online https://kidsaboardtherapy.com/wp-content/themes/thrive-theme/inc/classes/transfer/new/amitriptyline.html no prescription
Greenfield admits that he’s not sure what the immediate impact of the delayed titles has on Redbox’s income, but he’s concerned about a potential scenario in which Redbox loses its suits against the embargoing studios. Says Greenfield:
“We believe over time disappointing consumers is unlikely to be a great business model, with blockbuster titles such as Warner’s Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and The Hangover to be released in the weeks to come,”
Insiders, have you noticed a dwindling number of new release titles from the aforementioned studios at your local Redbox? Let us know your findings—and what area of the country you’re in—in the comments.
[via Home Media Magazine]
I would have to say I”m disappointed “I love you, beth cooper” still hasn’t shown up in my redbox kiosk and it’s been released about one month now. I’m pretty much giving up on it ever showing up in the kiosk. Redbox should still feel free to contact me if they want to reimburse me to buy it, view it and sell it to them at my exact cost if they want to add it to the redbox kiosk I use.
As for Bruno and Sister’s keeper, they have been solidly rented out for at least a week now (unless the marking actually means they don’t have disks in the kiosk yet, rather than the movie being rented).
I should add I’m also surprised Redbox hasn’t gone to court to get a temporary order to keep Fox, et. al. from restricting title sales to them until the “restraint of trade” part of the major lawsuits can be addressed and decided.
Night at the museum Smithsonian has not been available at the 18 sites in rochester ny ,they emailed me that it was a new release but none of the rexboxes have them and redbox has since removed it on the website as a new release………
Redbox should not advertise as available any films it is not stocking for immediate rental. Marking the item as “checked out” on their online website is flatly dishonest – it’s not checked out, it’s not freaking available at all! C’mon…!
A possible solution to this problem would be to have a “coming soon” section. At least patrons would not be confused and rush out to rent films that are not actually available.
I was a lot happier when they had quirkier offerings from Europe and independent film makers. Where are the Futurama movies? How about some Anime stuff like Rebuild of Evangelion? Redbox could become the go to place for Anime, esp the series stuff on many disks. What happened to the original Speed Racer disks 2-5? I only ask because I actually rented disk 1 from Redbox.
A lot of what Redbox stocks now I would never dream of bothering to rent.
i agree. would be a great source for the films you can’t find elsewhere.
At least redbox is not taking “reservations” on the “checked out” titles like it did before!
northern california redbox in safeway is missing orphan, ice age, bruno, etc and is out of stock on angels and demons, many horror films, ++. also, the promocode they sent me did not work. very disappointing!
I agree with what everyone is saying. I am very disappointed that Night at the museum Smithsonian is not been available at the sites in Snellville, Georgia,they emailed me that it was a new release but none of the rexboxes have them. It is listed as checked out when it never came in.
ANOTHER NEW TWIST ADDED TO THE LAWSUIT
PHYSICAL: Kiosk operator claims retail interference by the studios
By Susanne Ault — Video Business, 12/1/2009
DEC. 1 | PHYSICAL: Redbox is arguing that 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment and Warner Home Video are unfairly encouraging Walmart, Target, and other retailers to limit DVD sales to the $1 a night kiosk operator.
This accusation is part of Nov. 30 amendments filed in Redbox’s lawsuits against Fox and Warner over the studios’ decision to delay new releases to the kiosk company by four weeks. Although Fox and Warner are not directly distributing titles through wholesalers to Redbox on street date, Redbox believes it is its right to freely buy these titles from outside sources such as Walmart.
However, Redbox claims that it has been told by various chains that it can’t buy more than three copies of any Fox or Warner new release title. Redbox blames the studios for interfering.
“Discovery will show that Fox representatives contacted not only VPD and Ingram, but also numerous other distributors and retailers of DVDs, seeking confirmation that they would agree not to sell new release DVDs to Redbox during the 30-day blackout period,” reads the amended complaint. “For example, Redbox representatives have attempted to purchase new release DVDs from Walmart, Best Buy and Target and have been informed by Walmart, Target and Best Buy that Redbox may not purchase more than three copies of any new release DVD….It makes no economic sense for any retailer to deny sales to Redbox unless it knows that other retailers have also agreed not to meet Redbox’s demand.”
Redbox’s amendment in its Warner suit reads nearly identically.
Earlier this year, Redbox filed a similar amendment with its lawsuit against Universal Studios Home Entertainment complaining about DVD purchase restrictions at various chains. However, Universal later denied this accusation by Redbox.
Well if this is true, that the studios are selling their movies to big chains like Walmart, Best Buy, Target and then telling these big chains who they can and can not sell to or who they should limit sales to…..WELL THEN, these big store chains should join suit with Redbox against these studios who are trying to tell them what they can or can’t do with the dvds once purchased from them!
Wal-Mart limits many people to 3 DVDs at a time. Many independant video store owners have complained about this but Wal-Mart has clear signage saying that they can limit the number of copies a person can but.
Wal-Mart uses Tuesday DVD sales s a loss leader to get people into their stores. The last thing they want is a Redbox employee buying 200 copies of a DVD and walking out without anything else. They would not make any money on that sale and they would piss off their other customers as well.
Wal-Mart is not stupid. It does not make financial sense for them to supply Redbox with titles below cost.
Please, Walmart is not taking a loss on Tuesday new releases. What do they sell them for? $15? Their price point is well below that. Like, you said, they are not stupid.
I have talked to video buyers at Wal-Mart. Their cost per copy is higher than their Tuesday sale price.
They do lose money on NR DVDs.
It is a loss leader.
That is why they limit their sale numbers.
wouldnt it be simple enough to just pay their workers to walk inand buy them.. Who would know they work for redbox… at least here locally even if you limit me to 3 movies i can end up with 15 movies within 4 miles
Well it seems as though Redbox is finally losing its way. I looked for Terminator Salvation and Night at the Smithsonian yesterday and they are no where to be found. I was told at Rebox “customer service” that they might be available on Friday. Same thing a couple of weeks ago with Ice Age and UP. Yet I was able to go to Hastings here in Albuquerque and rent both! Why the difference? They are both rental companys. In the midst of all this Redbox has the audacity to raise prices in a “test market” in Albuquerque and I think Hartford CT to $1.50. I think Rebox knew this is going to happen, and want to increase revenue to cover them becoming nothing but a money making middle man between WalMart and the rental consumer. Nice…Very Nice!
Still no Night at Museum or Transformers at Redbox kiosks outside of Pittsburgh, Pa. What I did notice was frustration in October, around Halloween, when a lot of friends and myself were ‘hungry’ for horror movies and the movie Orphan was extremely hard to find at Redbox kiosks, plus movies like Trick r Treat weren’t made available at any of the kiosks…. That said, I’d still rather go with the delays if it means Redbox can keep it’s rental prices $1.
Come on people. Stop your complaining. You’ve got it good with Redbox and all anyone wants to do is whine and bitch about not getting a movie that was released YESTERDAY.
Think Redbox sucks? Good. Go elsewhere and leave more available for me to rent.
Go get Night or Terminator from Netflix, then. Uh Oh! Too late! Terminator is in a very long wait state for both DVD and Blu. That means a minimum of 1 1/2 to 2 months before that one ever arrives. Night is in a long wait state. Guess it’ll be at least a month before that shows up in your mailbox. If you didn’t get either movie (or any other popular new release) on the first day with Netflix, you can forget seeing it any time soon.
Or maybe you rather burn up gas driving to your Blockbuster or Family Video. Think they won’t all be checked out? What are the odd they will have a copy? Guess you have to keep trying back. In the meantime, you’ll be sure to rent something else to rationalize the wasted time and gas. And if you do score, don’t forget to return it to the very same location you rented it from (more gas).
Both of these movies will be in the Redboxes by the end of the week. And you can sit at home with your keyboard and figure out exactly when they arrive and where they will be. How many other sources for rentals can you do that with?
And others are complaining about Up and Orphan.
17 of the nearest 20 Redboxes to me have Up right at this minute. And Orphan is at 3 of the 20. I realize that I’m in a well stocked locality, but not every city have well stocked Blockbusters as well and Netflix is also regional and availability is based on the closest shipping center. You have no say in the matter. Even pay-per-view is location dependent. If you don’t have good cable or satellite, you may not have PPV access. The point being is that all sources are dependent on location. Nobody seem to understand, they just want to bash Redbox.
For Netflix, both Up and Orphan are in a very long wait state. Orphan has been out since October. It wasn’t even that good of a film and the wait time is 2 months with Netflix.
So count your blessing and be glad there is even a Redbox and stop complaining about movies that are there the day it’s released. If all the Redboxes disappeared and you had to go elsewhere, most of you all would be in a world of hurt and you really would have something to complain about.
Or if you really can’t live another day without seeing a movie, then perhaps you should consider buying it. Instant gratification cost money.
Actually its false advertisement, I live in chicago and none of the new releases since star trek came out have been available. People have a right to be angry, Up and orphan are kind of old but not having NATM2 or Terminator, when you say your going too, is wrong. People can be upset with redbox and odds are if you drive to BB they are going to have it. BB carries at least 30 copies of popular new release at all locations. If you have movies schedule to come out on that mon or tue from netflix you will receive the new release. Orphan was not really a blockbuster but got heavy word of mouth, so lots of mediums did not anticipate the demands. Studios want you to by the movies i.e why they delay sending them to redbox. Redbox knows they will not have the movies, so they should not say they will. People would do what they have been doing if the redbox disappear, rent movies and complain. You missed the point, if you were told your check is going to be here on the 1st (and its in writing) but you dont get it til the 30, you would be pissed. Thats how these people feel, not that omg its a long wait , I want it now, but there was no disclaimer.
ya i got the no terminator salvation available anywhere here in phoenix, arizona. i emailed regarding issue and still have no answer. why even list the product if not available. this is my first time getting a new release not available so i’m rather dissapointed. i’m not gonna pay the 6$ to rent from blockbuster. lol
not so much on the new releases here either
paper heart was not bad
funny people is like the willy wonka golden ticket around here, impossible to find for one straight week!!!!!
Redbox is lying about the availability of their titles. There has been a check on their machines and only about 6% of them are getting titles like Funny People and 4 Christmases in the first week.
Titles like My Sister’s Keeper was in only about 10% of the machines after a full week had gone by and even Bruno was only in 25% of the machines.
Redbox had better just raise their prices and make nice with the studios before their numbers become public and Coinstar sees their stock price plummet.
Mitch Lowe has got to go. He is a pariah in the entertainment industry now.
I don’t know about other places, but when there are delayed titles in MY area, it is almost ALWAYS there within 2-3 days of the day of release. This week Terminator and Night of the Museum were both available on Thursday night.
FWIW, Bruno seems to be readily available in my area (Central Valley CA) but no one is interested in renting it, including me.
The Terminator film is also starting to appear in the local redboxes. Meh…
I liked the stuff Cohen did on HBO (Ali g), but was appalled by the tasteless crap he put into his first film. You couldn’t pay me to watch “Bruno”.
I am in Baltimore, Maryland and nothing on Terminator Salvation. It getting old with these late arrivals and still, the idea of paying blockie and hallow $4-6 bucks for a movie is madness. Redbox needs to keep movies off their site if they are not available or at least coming soon like the previous guy shared.
I think there is a lot of resistance in the movie market and keeping redbox in the ditches is simply payola at best from competitors looking to get an edge. In business, it not what we know, but who we know many times.
Something smells awfully fishy.
Folks,
Don’t be upset with Redbox. They have innovatively created a retail delivery system with extreeeeemmmmmlllyyyy low overhead. I hope that the courts do the right thing and recognize that the studios and bigbox rental stores simply do not like the competitition and are trying to freeze redbox out of the market for the SOLE PURPOSE OF PRICE FIXING. If you are upset that you can’t get Terminator, UP or whatever for a dollar from Redbox on the day that the product is release, then please take your anger out on the studios, blockbusters, hollywood videos who are trying to squeeze out the competition in order to force us to pay higher costs.
Join with me and refuse to pay the higher price – just wait until they get stocked at Redbox.
Personally, I think that Redbox has increased the number of sales for a lot of the crap produced by hollywood. I know that I rent movies for a buck that I would never ever ever had rented at $3 to $4 bucks.
Hang in there Redbox. The competition you provide is good for business and for consumers and you have an obvious antitrust/price-fixing case against these greedy studios. I do wonder why redbox hasn’t filed for a temporary injuction against the studios to force them to sell to Redbox at the same price structure they sell to any other volume retailer.
Well said Feste and I totally agree. I’m not angry with Redbox; I have a distaste for the studios’ greed that’s putting pressure and dilemmas on Redbox and their low rental price for the consumers.
There is no anti-trust issue at all. Redbox will lose the lawsuit.
John,
The studios first tried to stiff arm the video rental industry and lost. Then they were sued for antitrust violations by independent video rental businesses for their practices of giving Blockbuster and some other “big box” rental stores better terms than they would make available to the independents. Guess what? The studios caved and started settling those cases as soon as it became clear that the independents were in it for the duration of the fight. Why settle if there is no antitrust issue?
Now they are refusing to sell videos to Redbox on the same terms that they do to other retail rental outlets? What is the material difference between this case and the suit by independent video rental stores? You do realize that they’ve admitted the reason they don’t want Redbox to have access to wholesale supplies (and now it appears they are actively interfering with Redbox’s RETAIL access) is because Redbox has such a lower operating overhead that they can deliver rentals at a price that the studios do not like – they are doing it specifically to control the retail price structure of the product. Anti-competitive price control actions are felonies under federal antitrust laws.
I predict that the Studios will eventually try to settle this without a full hearing just like they have done when sued by other independent video rental outlets. They are merely jockeying for negotiating position. If it goes to court, they lose. One particularly damning fact is that the studios are getting a portion of the rental fee takes from some bigbox rentals like Blockbuster. This tangling of monetary gain most certainly won’t help them defend their protectionist measures in court.
They have a right to set the price for their product, but they don’t have the right to fix rental prices.
What exactly is your definition of price-fixing and antitrust?
Again, the studios did not lose against the indie video store owners.
The case was thrown out of court and it cost the indies tens of millions of dollars in legal fees.
Get your facts right if you want spout them,
John,
Nor did I say the studios lost the independent suit (don’t believe me? – go back and reparse my post). But MGM and Fox both settled out of court before the charges were dismissed. The judge cited lack of evidence of collusion between the studios or between the studios and blockbuster.
However, this round there are two interesting material differences. 1) The studios have established precedent by supplying other independents with new releases but are discriminating against RB (kiosk) retailers by refusing to give them access to the same wholesale price structure that they give to other volume buyers. 2) (this is the reeaaalll interesting wrinkle) blockbuster is closing in on bankruptcy and is deep in debt to the studios. If Blockbuster goes TU, the studios are out tens of millions in lost sale revenue. Not rocket science to see that the studios have a vested interest in propping up Blockbuster. That can easily constitute motive for tilting the playing field toward Blockbuster using anti-competitive business practices.
This time, it is different. Not as cut ‘n’ dry as you think.
Redbox still has access to product the same way most indie video stores have access to the product, through Wal-Mart.
There is no legal case to be made here. Redbox will lose this.
Frankly, I’m not really frustrated with Redbox at all. My only frustration is with the movie studios.
No Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian or Terminator Salvation in the Houston area.
If not in machine on Tuesdays, don’t list it.
Our local redbox has “Coming Soon” labels on some movies. I do agree that redbox should not list titles they don’t have – but maybe other boxes have them? 18 is just a fraction of the boxes they’re likely to have in an area.
I refuse to pay $20 (and ever increasing) to see a movie in the theater and I refuse to pay $4 to rent it from blockbuster for a night. So my options are redbox, netflix, or the library. I have waited almost a year to get a new release from the library – I can wait a month to get it from redbox.
With the economy being the way it is, the studios aren’t going to help their profits…they are just going to piss people off.
I never did see how blocking consumers from getting content the way they want was good for business. I just know that the studios goal is to get us to pay $5 a day for movies where the budgets keep getting lower and scripts are weak.
I was able to get Night at the Museum 2 in Phoenix, Arizona today. Currently it shows Terminator is available at a Walgreens in the area, but earlier today I couldn’t find any.
Marcy Magiera
Workarounds may not keep working for Redbox
December 3, 2009
It’s becoming more apparent just what it’s costing Redbox to “workaround” title delays imposed by three major studios, and the picture is not as rosy as the kiosk company’s very effective PR effort might make it seem.
The share price of Redbox parent Coinstar slipped 3.6% on Dec. 3 on investor skittishness about the effectiveness and costs of Redbox’s alternative title procurement strategies. This, after Redbox filed amended antitrust complaints against 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. charging the studios with interfering with its ability to buy product at retail. The claims mirror those Redbox leveled earlier at Universal Pictures.
In an 8-K filing with the SEC, Coinstar said that some Walmart, Best Buy and Target stores have been limiting sales to Redbox’s reps to as few as three copies per title, under pressure from the studios. While other stores in the same chain impose no such limits, “there can be no assurance that Redbox will be able to obtain new release DVDs in sufficient quantities or on financially advantageous terms or that attempts to restrict its new release DVD purchases will not be more widespread,” the filing said.
Meanwhile, fiercely independent Video Buyers Group is disseminating as much (negative) information as it can about Redbox’s challenges, including dissatisfied consumer comments from the Redbox Web site. According to a recent tally by VBG, only 1% to 2% of Redbox kiosks have titles from Fox, Universal and Warner on street date. Within one to two weeks, many of those studios’ titles are still in just 15% to 20% of Redbox kiosks. Causal relationships are difficult to pinpoint. Does Redbox have few copies of the delayed titles because it can’t get them? Or because it has no interest in supporting those studios beyond the most minimal copy depth required to satisfy its customers?
In the midst of all this, Redbox’s Mitch Lowe and company are looking ahead, having early discussions with videogame publishers about kiosk rentals in an effort to avoid the roadblocks with games (still a test category for Redbox) that some studios are throwing up for movies.
The possibilities of digital delivery loom as well. Lowe told Wall Street Journal this week that Redbox is open to adding any sort of digital delivery (via kiosks or direct to the home) that proves to be a workable revenue stream, and he doesn’t see any studios being reluctant to deal with his company for digital rights, despite the litigation the company is involved in over rights to distribute physical product.
That is some rosy Redbox PR, for sure.
While the First Sale Doctrine gives Redbox the right to rent any physical product it legally acquires, there’s no similar workaround opportunity in digital. Redbox would have to get digital rights directly from the studios.
Will the studios need Redbox for distribution more than Redbox needs content?
I don’t know, but I suspect the outcome of the current fight over the distribution of physical product may provide a clue.
Sounds like it is time for Mitch Lowe to go. Coinstar needs a studio-friendly CEO in charge so that they don’t go down the tubes.
No, what we need is to stop the studios’ efforts to fix the price of rentals.
The studios’ only legitimate price control tactic is to set the price at which they sell their product – ok if they want to set price/volume scales-, and the courts need to step in and tell them that if they sell a movie for a certain volume pricing to one “rentailer”, they MUST sell it at that same volume price structure to ANY rentailer. They have no legitimate right to tilt the playing field in favor of one rentailer over another. That is what they were sued for in 2002 by independent video rental businesses and lost.
The studios are trying to prop up Blockbuster because blockbuster owes them millions of dollars that they will lose when blockbuster goes bellyup, and because of revenue sharing arrangements that independents don’t have with the studios (against though, that issue was settled in 2002 in favor of the independents).
The studios won the lawsuit in 2002 and it had way more merit than the Redbox lawsuit.
You are incorrect in your information.
No “Night At The Museum 2” or “Terminator: Salvation” at any of the 14 kiosks in the Springfield, OH. area. I did luck out and finally find “Funny People” at one kiosk here in town on Wed. afternoon. Not sure where that Netflix basher is getting their info, but a friend of mine already received “Night At the Museum 2” from them on Wednesday, and it was mailed to them on Tuesday. Looks like they didn’t have a “Long wait” for it!
If you know anything at all about Netflix, you know that your absolute best chance of getting a new release within the first month is:
1. Return a DVD so it arrives back at Netflix and is processed the day the new movie is first sent out.
and
2. Have that movie at the very top of your queue.
and
3. Don’t try to get popular new releases very often, or be a low turnaround renter so they make money from you every month. Netflix has publicly stated they do not throttle *except* for new releases.
Miss any of those three and you have a very good chance of seeing “long wait”.
Well i live in pittsburgh and as far as the new releases they are there most of the time i have 4 koshes in a 2 mile radious please every one remember they cant have 20 copys of every movie. dont foget their might be 100 other people waiting for the same movie.I have found that if it is a good movie sometimes it takes a week or two to get it. got to be there at the right time.so dont get mad at red box they are trying their best(low over head=low price ),if u must see it that urgently do what the studios want GO BUY IT.you go red box hang in there
Wow..the trends I’ve been noticing have just been backed up by this website..the last month or so…most if not all new releases have been missing on Tuesday…and absolutely ZER0 blu ray, which is all I really want to rent.
I used to walk in on a Tuesday morning and the local Redbox would have all the new releases, on both DVD and some on Blu Ray…now it’s mostly b-movies, re-releases, and zero new…only exception was Star Trek…quite a few of those.
I’ve given up on Hollywood, and Blockbuster.both of which should just fly away…
Netflix and Redbox are the future…4:95 for a rental is silly..Redbox has the perfect price…