Redbox tests higher prices
PHYSICAL: First-night DVD rentals hit $2 in Harrisburg, Penn., area, company confirms
By Danny King and Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 11/2/2009
NOV. 2 | PHYSICAL: Redbox is testing different prices at some machines in Pennsylvania and New Mexico.
Redbox, which has roughly doubled its kiosk count to about 18,000 because of the popularity of its $1 a night DVD rentals, is charging $2 for first-night rentals in Harrisburg, Penn., and a $1.50 nightly rate in Albuquerque, Redbox spokesman Christopher Goodrich confirmed today. Additional nights at Harrisburg machines revert to the $1 a night rate.
Redbox parent Coinstar CEO Paul Davis said in August that the company would test different DVD pricing models as well as Blu-ray Disc and videogame sales, including some machines dedicated exclusively to renting videogames.
Coinstar, which reports third-quarter earnings later this week, said in August that Redbox’s second-quarter sales more than doubled as the largest U.S. movie-rental kiosk operator added machines and boosted the amount of sales it gets from each kiosk. The unit’s results helped parent company Coinstar double its earnings from a year earlier.
Studios such as Warner Home Video, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment and Universal Studios Home Entertainment have taken issue with Redbox’s $1 a night rentals and are prohibiting the sale of their new DVD releases to kiosk operators, causing Redbox to file lawsuits against them.
