NCR launches rental kiosk with more disc capacity

PHYSICAL: Machine holds 35% more DVDs in same footprint

By Marcy Magiera -- Video Business, 10/20/2009

OCT. 20 | PHYSICAL: NCR Corp. is introducing a new outdoor DVD rental kiosk that can hold as many as 950 discs, about 35% more than the 700 copies in most kiosks currently in the market, and also dispense sell-through packages.

The company is positioning the new kiosk as key to broadening its Blockbuster Express deployments in the convenience store channel and other small retail locations that place DVD rental kiosks outside.

NCR says the new kiosk can be used for rental and sell-through, acommodating both DVDs in automated rental sleeves and sell-through packaging at the same time, and can be ugraded with new technologies to download video files or scan barcodes for age verification using drivers’ licenses. Redbox said last week that it is testing sell-through kiosks that are separate from its rental machines.

Alex Camara, VP and general manager of NCR Entertainment, said the company will use the new model, the SelfServ Entertainment 2381, in “several hundred” locations this year. Eventually, about half of NCR’s Blockbuster Express kiosk locations could be outside said Camara, noting that as the supermarket channel becomes saturated with DVD rental kiosks, alternate channels including convenience stores and gas stations will become more important.

Camara explained that the new kiosk occupies the same footprint as NCR’s current DVD rental kiosks, but can hold more inventory because of changes to the mechanism inside the box.

NCR will use the additional capacity to increase the copy depth of hit titles and to stock a broader range of specialty releases, Camara said.

NCR maintains that most kiosks currently in the market have a capacity of 500 to 600 DVDs, but leader Redbox says its machines hold as many as 700 discs.

NCR said its new model is weather-protected and equipped with an ATM-grade magnetic card reader to help prevent fraud and a touchscreen display that is specially designed for viewing in sunlight.

Earlier this month, NCR announced it was bringing Blockbuster Express to Tedeschi Food Shops, a 188-store convenience chain located in New England.