Kiosk company offers free rental

The New Release aims to draw in new customers

By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 11/2/2006

NOV. 2 | DVD rental kiosk provider The New Release is offering first-time customers one free movie rental.

The promotion is running at 291 of TNR’s grocery locations, spanning such chains as Kroger, H-E-B, Publix and A&P. Participating stores are spread through Texas, Florida, Colorado, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware and can be found listed at www.thenewrelease.com.

Officials at New Release parent TNR Entertainment Corp. hope to attract customers who have never used a kiosk machine before to rent films. Each TNR machine houses up to 1,000 DVD units and rents each title for $1 per night.

“We want as many shoppers as possible to benefit from the convenience and lower cost of DVD kiosk rentals, particularly as we embark on a major national expansion,” said Tony Sciolla, TNR chief marketing officer. “Our ‘First Movie Free’ promotion is a perfect introduction to what more than a million New Release customers have already discovered—renting the most popular current DVD releases can be painless, essentially adding it to your grocery list and avoiding separate trips to another location.”

Currently at more than 850 primarily grocery spots, TNR has estimated it will spread to 3,000 locations in 2007.