Verizon and Redbox to Team Up for Movie Streaming
Phone company giant Verizon Communications Inc. will establish itself as a video steaming service this year, teaming up with Redbox and its familiar DVD rental kiosks.
Verizon and Redbox announced Monday that the new service will be national and available to non-Verizon users. The phone company, which already has its own cable TV service called FIOS, is looking to further expand its home entertainment image.
The business plan for the Verizon-Redbox corporate coupling is to provide customers with DVD and blu-ray discs as well as movie streaming services, according to Cointstar's CEO Paul Davis. This would allow customers to simaltaneously use the site for online streaming and searching local Redbox movie availability.
The new venture will likely become Netflix's most serious competitor since none of the company's current online streaming adversaries combines internet movie delivery with DVDs.
To further the streaming service's appeal, Verizon and Redbox may be marketing their rentals at a lower price than Netflix. However, Verizon and Coinstar--Redbox's parent company--have not release any concrete details on pricing.
Redbox rentals are known for selling as cheap as $1.20 a day, but the company has been looking for a way to take their streaming viral.
A union with Verizon looks promising as Netflix is recovering from customer loses from last year's price increase and attempt to make its DVD service a separate website.
The Verizon-Redbox service is expected to take over computers and red boxes starting in the second half of the year.
