Video Buyers Group launches anti-kiosk promotion

PHYSICAL: Posters will promote value of video stores

By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 10/9/2009

OCT. 9 | PHYSICAL: Video Buyers Group this month will launch a promotion in its 1,700 member stores to tell customers that traditional video stores—not Redbox and other $1 a night machines—carry the best selection of rental product.

Stickers and posters will use the ‘Available Here First’ theme, referring to the fact that beginning late in the month three studios—Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Warner Home Video and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment—will withhold their titles from the kiosk channel until at least 30 days after their general street date.

Redbox is suing all three studios over the window, although Fox, in particular, has reiterated that it tried to strike a deal with the kiosk operator before imposing the delay. Studios are concerned that Redbox’s $1 a night model cuts into their revenue from higher-margin businesses, including DVD sell-through.

VBG’s poster, which was still being finalized at press time, is expected to picture such titles as Oct. 27 releases Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs and Orphan, the first titles to be held back from kiosks by Fox and Warner, respectively.

It also might feature Summit Home Entertainment’s Brothers Bloom, a title the supplier is making available exclusively to the rental channel, before a sell-through bow next year.

Posters and stickers will be offered to VBG members free of charge. Other rentailers also can participate in the program for a nominal fee. Family Video, which is not part of VBG, has pledged its support and is expected to stamp its more than 550 stores with the poster, according to VBG president Ted Engen.

“This program underscores the advantage that traditional rentailers have,” said Engen. “We have talked to Family Video, and they are joining efforts with us. We all want to [spread the message] to consumers that $1 rentals are devaluing our industry. You have a situation where a bottle of pop has about the same value as a night of entertainment.”

On top of the posters and stickers, VBG also will insert articles about the Redbox issue into its regular new-release consumer publication.

VBG’s efforts could be muted, however, by the fact that Redbox has pledged to bypass Fox and Warner restrictions and get those studios’ titles from sources other than traditional distributors for stocking on street date. If Redbox is successful, Fox and Warner titles should street in the kiosks at the same time as they do at VBG stores and other retailers. Redbox has long maintained that its machines have carried all Universal releases since the studio imposed its 45-day window last year.

Beyond the fear of losing customers, many retailers worry that cheap Redbox rentals will hurt film revenue so much that studios will ultimately have to scale back future movie production. Hollywood trade unions also are believed to be prepping a consumer campaign of their own, to similarly insist that Redbox harms the entertainment business.

Many rentailers also object to the different standards they feel they are being held to when it comes to offering R-rated product. Redbox asks people if they are 18 years old before it vends discs, but video stores insist it’s still easy for minors to inappropriately access R titles.

“A video store has supervision, where if you see a 13-year-old kid trying to rent an R movie, you can tell if he’s a 13-year-old kid,” said Engen.