NCR Sues Blockbuster To Keep Its Kiosk Name

NCR Corp. is asking a Delaware federal court to declare that it has a contractual right to continue using the “Blockbuster Express” name for its movie rental kiosks, which number more than 9,000 nationwide.

The Blockbuster Express name, design and related trademarks are held by the BB 2009 Trust — an entity that, according to NCR, was not part of Blockbuster’s 2010 bankruptcy proceeding. Following the sale of Blockbuster’s assets to Dish Network Corp. in April, Blockbuster transferred its interest in the BB 2009 Trust to Dish.

NCR’s license agreement with the BB 2009 Trust runs through January 23, 2016, according to a complaint filed by the company with the U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Del. But in May, the Blockbuster trust notified NCR that it was terminating the contract.

NCR contends that Blockbuster has no grounds to end the trademark licensing pact. Moreover, “termination of the license will work a substantial hardship on NCR,” writes Melanie Sharp, an attorney representing the Duluth, Ga.-based company, in court papers. “NCR has undertaken significant time and expense in establishing and operating kiosks throughout the United States branded with the [Blockbuster] trademarks, and has earned substantial revenues from those operations.”

Blockbuster has yet to respond to the suit.

NCR Windows Fox Titles, Tests Premium Pricing at Rental Kiosks

Under NCR Entertainment’s deal with 20th Century Fox, Blockbuster Express kiosks will offer a broader selection of DVDs from the studio, in exchange for the kiosk vendor observing a 28-day window on new releases.

Echoing last month’s deal between the NCR unit and Universal Pictures, the Fox agreement also provides for the companies to test higher rental rates than the current $1-per-night model. The first title to be so tested will be action-comedy “Knight & Day,” out Nov. 30, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Redbox Sets Digital Service Debut For 2011

Redbox made no announcement of a third-party partner for streaming video subscriptions yesterday, contrary to analyst predictions from earlier this week. But the Coinstar-owned company did say that it would add a Web-based rental service to its network of DVD kiosks next year.

Redbox is in talks with several potential partners for the digital service, the Los Angeles Times reports. Amazon.com and Walmart are among the top partner prospects for Redbox’s digital offering, according to Merriman Curhan Ford’s Eric Wold. The analyst had looked for Redbox to make a more detailed announcement during Coinstar’s earnings call yesterday for its third quarter ending Sept. 30.

Nevertheless, Coinstar shares were up 21% this morning, after the company reported a 149% operating income increase to $29.7 million. DVD revenue itself grew 54% from the previous year, to $305.5 million, while revenue at existing kiosks increased 17% year-over-year. Redbox kiosks now number 28,900 nationwide.

More on the timing calculations behind Redbox’s digital strategy at paidContent, which speculates the kiosk network may be taking a longer view than expected on streaming to gain better deal terms — or simply to see whether/how the market for streaming video services shakes out over the next few months.

Analyst: Redbox to Announce Streaming Service Tomorrow

DVD kiosk network Redbox is expected to announce tomorrow a major third-party deal to add streaming video subscriptions to its services, according to Merriman Curhan Ford analyst Eric Wold (via Home Media Magazine).

The analyst writes that Redbox parent Coinstar will likely announce a streaming deal with either Walmart or Amazon.com in tandem with the company’s third quarter earnings report on Oct. 28. Wold points to Coinstar’s Oct. 26 Form 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which disclosed amendments to the company’s charter and bylaws, as evidence of the imminent announcement. Such changes, Wold writes, “would be necessary before any major partnerships or ventures could be formed.”

In related news, Coinstar announced last week its promotion of Mary Leonard, who joined Redbox in 2006 as SVP Operations, to Chief Performance Officer of the parent company. Meanwhile, Redbox added Mindy Herman, the former chief executive of E! Networks, as chief of content, a newly formed position. Release via PR Newswire.

Redbox Expanding Video Game Rental Test

Redbox announced earlier this week  that it is expanding its year-old videogame rental test to include additional markets in the West, Midwest and Atlantic coast regions of the U.S.

No talk of windows here: kiosks rent game titles including 2K Sports’ “NBA 2K11” (released Oct. 5), Capcom’s “Dead Rising 2″ (Released Sept. 24), 2K’s “New Carnival Games” (released Sept. 21), and Microsoft’s “Halo: Reach” (released Sept. 14) for $2 a night.

Kiosks rent games for the PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii consoles; the number of game titles and copies vary by kiosk and location, Redbox says.

NCR Expands Kiosk Footprint In Southeastern Grocery Stores

NCR plans to install its Blockbuster Express DVD kiosks in all 207 stores of the BI-LO chain, located throughout South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee. The Blockbuster Express kiosks will replace 168 previously installed DVD kiosks from competing brands, NCR said.

The kiosk company is the second-largest in the U.S., with close to 7,000 machines in operation nationwide; sector leader Redbox, in comparison, operates kiosks in some 23,000 locations.

Release via Business Wire.

NCR, MOD Systems Launch Download Kiosks in Airports

MOD Systems and kiosk vendor NCR Corp. said today that they are rolling out their first “Download2Go” kiosks at 20 InMotion Entertainment stores in 12 U.S. airports, offering travelers some 2,600 movies for digital purchase or rental.

Kiosk customers can download digital movies to Secure Digital (SD) cards in about two minutes, according to the companies; movies are available for purchase or rental in MOD’s GreenPlay format, compatible with Windows PCs.

The machines stock movies from several major and independent film studios, with most movie rentals costing $3.99, and purchases ranging from $12.99 to $19.99. Rentals are valid for 30 days, with files playable for 48 hours once the consumer has begun watching the movie.

NCR and MOD plan to offer downloads of television shows to SD cards, as well as downloads of music tracks and albums to flash drives and directly to MP3 players, via the Download2Go kiosks this fall.

Report: NCR, Blockbuster Scaling Back Kiosk Plans?

NCR has stated it is on a path to deploy 10,000 Blockbuster Express movie rental kiosks by the end of this year. But a recent quarterly report from Blockbuster casts questions on whether the kiosk vendor will reach that number.

Blockbuster said in a June quarterly report that NCR had deployed 6,000 Express kiosks to date, with another 1,500 units planned through the end of the year, according to Home Media Magazine. The chain had previously acknowledged the companies’ 10,000-kiosk goal in its first-quarter earnings report.

NCR, for itself, sounded a note of caution on its kiosk strategy during its own recent earnings call — telling analysts that it would wait until it hit the 10,000 kiosk mark to determine whether it would press further into physical media rental.

J.P. Morgan Predicts Kiosk Growth Opportunity Will Peak in 2011

In a recent report on the prospects of Coinstar and its Redbox unit, equity analysts from J.P. Morgan estimate that the growth opportunity for the DVD kiosk company will peak in 2011 and decline in 2012.

Streaming video and the various iterations of video on demand (VOD) will begin to impact physical disc rentals next year, offering greater convenience than kiosks at a competitive price, the analysts predict. “We believe adoption of online video streaming and downloading services will accelerate dramatically in 2011…and be promoted by major retailers including Walmart, Best Buy, Sears and Blockbuster,” the analysts note (via Kiosk Marketplace).

Redbox is looking to expand into the digital space, with company president Mitch Lowe telling  Bloomberg in July that it was developing an online strategy to stay competitive with streaming services from the likes of Netflix. But for right now, the company is focusing on doubling its kiosk installations at its 24,000-plus locations (via Home Media Magazine).

Redbox Tops 1 Billion Rentals

Consumers are averaging 9.5 million movie rentals per week from the Coinstar-owned kiosk company, according to a statement. That’s up from earlier this summer, when the weekly average as 9 million. The change may have something to do with the addition of an unspecified number of second kiosks to Redbox’s 24,000-plus locations — which Home Media Magazine says is part of the company’s plan to double its kiosk install-base.

Redbox Adds CVS/Pharmacy To Kiosk Network

The ever-expanding kiosk firm plans to install DVD rental machines at CVS/pharmacy locations throughout the U.S., including Puerto Rico and Longs Drug locations in Hawaii. The national rollout, which follows a pilot program at select CVS/pharmacy locations, will commence this quarter with approximately 700 installations by the end of 2010, Redbox says. The rollout is expected to be completed by the end of 2011.

Analysts Still Bullish On Redbox Growth

Shares of Coinstar fell late last week after the Redbox owner missed analyst estimates of its second-quarter earnings (via Bloomberg). Yet while media & entertainment analysts faulted Redbox’s 28-day window agreements with several studios for the revenue shortfall during the quarter, many remain bullish on the kiosk operator’s growth prospects, according to Home Media Magazine.

Wedbush Morgan Securities’ Michael Pachter looks for Blu-ray rentals, which Redbox began rolling out in kiosks nationwide last week, to boost transaction revenue. Meanwhile, Merriman Curhan Ford’s Eric Wold notes that Coinstar upped its annual guidance despite Redbox taking a hit from the window agreements and a lack of strong titles in Q2.

Redbox Rolls Out $1.50-A-Night Blu-ray Rentals Nationwide

As Redbox president Mitch Lowe hinted at the Entertainment Supply Chain Academy conference in June, the company is rolling out Blu-ray rentals in its kiosks nationwide for $1.50 a night.

Redbox stated in a press release (via PR Newswire) that it would initially offer Blu-ray discs in 13,300 of its kiosks, with plans for availability across its entire network of 23,000 kiosks by the fall.

The number of Blu-ray titles and copies will vary by kiosk and location, Redbox said, with new titles being added each week. Each Redbox kiosk holds 630 discs in total, representing up to 200 titles.

Among the Blu-ray titles now in Redbox’s stock are Sony Pictures’ “The Bounty Hunter,” which topped disc rentals for the week ended July 24 (according to Rentrak), as well as Warner Bros.’ “The Book of Eli,” Universal’s “Green Zone,” and “Brooklyn’s Finest” from Overture Films.

The move follows the “great momentum” Redbox built for parent company Coinstar in the second quarter, according to chief executive Paul Davis. Redbox was the primary driver of a 34.9% year-over-year revenue growth at Coinstar during the quarter.

Coinstar’s DVD kiosk revenue increased 43.9% year-over-year during the second quarter to $271.9 million. That figure represents more modest sequential growth of 3.3% from the $263.2 million the DVD kiosk unit earned in the first quarter of 2010.

Coinstar noted that it took a pre-tax charge during the second quarter of approximately $2.0 million in accelerated depreciation related to the company’s decision to exit its DVDXpress-branded kiosk business. The company also recorded $2.2 million in share-based payments expenses related to Redbox’s agreements with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Entertainment.

NCR Mulls Future Course For Entertainment Unit

As it nears its stated goal of deploying 10,000 DVD kiosks, NCR is mulling whether to press further into physical media or step up its investment in digital delivery solutions.

NCR currently has 6,500 DVD kiosks in the marketplace; the company also is rolling out download kiosks in its 57 InMotion Entertainment airport stores under a partnership with MOD Systems.

Home Media Magazine has the details of NCR’s second-quarter earnings call with analysts, which took place ahead of this week’s executive change at the company’s entertainment unit.

NCR Exec Returns To Entertainment Kiosk Unit As VP/GM

The company, which licenses the Blockbuster brand name for its network of DVD rental kiosks, names Justin Hotard to once again helm its NCR Entertainment division following the departure of GM Alex Camara. NCR said that Camara, who joined the company from kiosk rival Coinstar in June, 2009, was leaving to pursue other opportunities. Hotard, who served as the unit’s GM until last June, transitions back to the division from NCR’s corporate office.

At present, NCR Entertainment operates 6,500 kiosks in the U.S., primarily under the Blockbuster Express brand.

Redbox Testing Higher Price Points For DVD Rentals

While it tests videogames and Blu-ray discs at kiosk locations in several markets, Redbox is elsewhere researching the potential implications of price hikes on its DVD rentals. Via The Hollywood Reporter: DVD price-point tests are underway at Redbox kiosks Albuquerque, NM ($1.50 a night), Modesto, CA ($1.25), San Diego ($1.25), Spokane, WA ($1.15), and Miami/West Palm Beach, FL ($1.15).

NCR Expands Blockbuster Kiosk Footprint In The South

The DVD kiosk vendor adds more than 500 locations in Tennessee and eight other Southeastern states in separate agreements with the Daily’s and MAPCO Express convenience store chains. NCR, which began 2010 with some 4,000 Blockbuster Express kiosks, plans to have as many as 10,000 machines in operation nationwide by the end of the year.

Redbox, Offering Free DVD Rentals Via Facebook, Tops 1 Million Followers

Thousands of Facebook members were signing up today for a free Monday-night movie rental from Redbox, as the video renter’s profile on the social network topped 1 million followers. Home Media Magazine has the details of the free-rental offer, which runs for  June 21 only. Redbox’s Facebook page also offers a code for another free night’s rental when users rent two movies simultaneously.

EntertainmentXpress Deploys First Kiosks In Pizza Hut Restaurants

DVD kiosk start-up EntertainmentXpress says it has begun to roll out its first machines in Pennsylvania and Florida Pizza Hut locations operated by franchisee Aurora Huts LLC. The deal, first announced in March, is one of several that EntertainmentXpress has with regional fast-food restaurants. Via MarketWatch

Redbox Kiosks Get Disney’s ‘Alice’ Day-And-Date With DVD Sale

Studios continue to take differing approaches to their release window experimnents. Despite analyst speculation that Disney would strike a last-minute deal with Redbox for a four-week window on the “Alice in Wonderland” DVD, copies of the top-grossing film of 2010 to date have been spotted in Redbox kiosks, Home Media Magazine reports. By Home Media Magazine

Pepsi, Kroger Back Year-Long Redbox Promotion

Shoppers at Kroger supermarkets receive a free one-night DVD rental from a Redbox kiosk when they purchase three Pepsi or Frito-Lay products, in a 52-week cross-promotion between the three companies.

The “Make It A Move Night” promotion is similar to campaigns that Redbox has run with other supermarket chains, as it seeks to introduce the kiosk-rental concept to more consumers. But as the Redbox tells MediaPost, the PepsiCo-Kroger program sets a new bar in scale and duration. Kroger operates some 2,400 stores under various banners in 31 states. By MediaPost

Correction Re: Redbox ROI

We misquoted the Home Media Magazine article on Coinstar’s Redbox kiosk ROI in our Wednesday edition. Coinstar CEO Paul Davis said earlier this week that a typical Redbox kiosk is pulling in $50,000 by its third year in operation, not the third month as we reported. Full article here.

Redbox Toasts Manufacture Of Its 25,000th Machine

Redbox marks the production of its 25,000th kiosk today at the Creedmoor, NC facility of Flextronics, its kiosk manufacturer. “Flextronics is an important partner and their flexibility and responsiveness have greatly contributed to our ability to meet aggressive installation goals as demand for our low-cost DVD rental service has grown,” says Redbox president Mitch Lowe. The rental service currently has a presence in 21,600 locations throughout the U.S. Via PR Newswire

Redbox Delivers For Coinstar

Wall Street is loving Coinstar following news that revenues at the company’s Redbox kiosk business increased 70% during the first quarter. Coinstar also upped its full-year guidance on the prospects of robust rental business. By TheStreet.com

Redbox Settles With Fox, Universal

As anticipated, the kiosk company reaches 28-day window agreements with Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment and Universal Studios Home Entertainment. The supply deals end Redbox’s legal dispute with the studios – and keep new-release DVDs such as Fox’s “Avatar” and Universal’s “It’s Complicated” out of Redbox machines until late May. Both deals also cover Blu-ray discs, which Redbox is currently testing. Redbox

Digital Entertainment Kiosks Coming To Airports

NCR is planning to install digital download kiosks throughout its chain of InMotion Entertainment stores in 35 U.S. airports, beginning this quarter.

The company, which separately operates the Blockbuster Express network of DVD rental kiosks, says it will rent and sell digital entertainment titles to airport travelers who will download the content to portable Secure Digital (SD) memory cards and USB memory sticks. Up to four kiosks — which NCR developed in partnership with MOD Systems — will be installed in each store to accommodate multiple customers at once.

The machines will offer “thousands” of new release and catalog movie titles and television episodes, along with “hundreds of thousands” of MP3 music tracks, according to an NCR press release. Via Business Wire

Redbox Expands In Middle America

The DVD kiosk company announces an agreement with regional convenience store chain Kum & Go to install movie rental machines in 281 outlets this year. Redbox kiosks are currently installed at 26 Kum & Go stores in Iowa, Arkansas, Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma. Via PR Newswire

Popeye’s Franchisees Sign Up For EntertainmentXpress Kiosks

Rental kiosk start-up Public Media Works adds another restaurant franchise to its client list, announcing that five Popeye’s restaurant franchisees have signed contracts with the company for its EntertainmentXpress kiosks.

The franchisees collectively operate 74 of the highest volume Popeye’s outlets in the greater Houston, TX area.

In late March, Public Media Works announced a similar kiosk agreement with a major Pizza Hut franchisee that operates over 155 stores in the greater Pittsburgh, PA area. Via Marketwire/CNN Money

Video Stores Behind Indiana Prosecutor’s Legal Salvo

Paul Black, an Evansville, Ind. attorney representing the owner of several area video stores, convinced the Vanderburgh County prosecuting attorney to send letters to roughly a dozen retailers with DVD kiosks earlier this year, telling them to stop providing access to movies that contain an ‘R’ or ‘PG’ rating or are unrated. The Video Buyers Group (VBG), which represents more than 1,700 independent rentailers nationwide, is working with the attorney’s client. By Home Media Magazine

Blockbuster To Analysts: Studios Committed To Brick-And-Mortar For The Long Term

While Blockbuster emphasizes the growth potential of its kiosk, DVD-by-mail, and digital on demand businesses in its latest earnings report, the company is busy reassuring analysts of the continuing viability of its physical retail outlets.

Studios, said Blockbuster chairman and CEO Jim Keyes in an earnings call, are “of course concerned about the short term and will work with us in the short term. But for the long term, they’re aligned with us in that they want to see the brick-and-mortar store survive and to facilitate the cross-channel transformation.” (per The Wall Street Journal)

In a Feb. 24 statement detailing the company’s $434.9 million net loss for the fourth quarter of 2009, Keyes said Blockbuster expects to add 7,000 Blockbuster Express rental kiosks to the market this year through its partnership with NCR. The company also looks to grow its by-mail channel and digital Blockbuster On Demand service through new “collaborative partnerships,” Keyes said.

DVD Kiosk Vendor NCR Mulling Digital Expansion

NCR Corp., the company that owns Blockbuster’s movie-rental vending machines, will consider acquisitions to expand into digital and mail-in movie rentals, CEO Bill Nuti told Bloomberg Feb. 23. NCR says its entertainment business will reach as much as $150 million in sales this year. Via BusinessWeek

Redbox Relents, Signs Window Deal With Warner

Furthering its efforts to establish an exclusive sales window for DVDs, Blu-ray discs, and video-on-demand services, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has reached a two-year deal with Redbox that keeps the studio’s movies out of the company’s rental kiosks for their first four weeks of release.

As part of the agreement, which runs through Jan. 31, 2012, Redbox has also dropped its antitrust lawsuit against Warner, which it filed last August. The deal may prove to be a template for settling litigation Redbox still has pending against the home entertainment units of Twentieth Century Fox and Universal Studios.

While both companies tout the settlement as a victory, Warner is the one that emerges with what it sought all along: a containment of the kiosk company at the tail end of home entertainment distribution.

In addition to shoring up DVD and Blu-ray sales, the studio is hoping that its new window strategy will spur the video-on-demand market, from which it could earn a relatively high profit margin. From Warner’s perspective, the kiosk serves as the market’s low-margin dollar bin (or dollar-a-night, as it were).

For Redbox, renting DVDs was a $774 million business in 2009. The company says it will benefit primarily from reduced product costs and optimal stock levels of Warner movies. In other words, Redbox will no longer have to send “runners” to purchase copies of new-release DVDs at retail cost from local Target and Wal-Mart stores to keep its kiosks well-stocked. Such a “workaround” solution has put pressure on Redbox’s consumer pricing model, as well as its bottom line.

Warner also is supplying Redbox with Blu-ray discs, which the kiosk vendor is currently testing in select markets.

Shares of Redbox’s Coinstar parent traded higher following news of the Warner deal, partially on hopes that Redbox will strike similar settlements with Fox and Universal. The four-week window is the central issue in those suits.

An end to the litigation would bring an end to Redbox’s expensive retail “workaround” as well. Earlier in February, Coinstar CEO Paul Davis told analysts that the workaround to secure discs from Warner, Fox, and Universal cost Redbox as much as $25 million during the fourth quarter of 2009, against revenues of $232 million.

Analyst: Redbox Weighing Its Digital Options

The day after Redbox parent Coinstar reported a 50% increase in 2009 revenue to $1.1 billion, due largely to rental kiosks, John Kraft, analyst with D.A. Davidson & Co. in Lake Oswego, Ore., said Redbox would not “sit on the sidelines” regarding digital delivery. “We believe there is, and will be, a broad base of customers for DVDs,” Kraft wrote in a note to clients. “Nevertheless…we believe the company is testing options, including a partnership with another digital vendor.” By Home Media Magazine

MOD Systems Expands Management Team

Joining the kiosk technology provider’s executive team are Chief Financial Officer Robert DeLucia; Senior Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Business Development Larry Smith; Senior Vice President of Content Licensing Dick Sowa; and Vice President of Operations David Sharp. The new hires come as MOD Systems, along with partners NCR and Toshiba, prepare for aggressive growth in the adoption and rollout of their Retail Digital Entertainment Platform this year. MOD Systems

Year-End Revenue Tops $1 Billion For Redbox Parent, But DVD Workaround Takes A Toll

For the fourth quarter (ended Dec. 31), Redbox parent Coinstar reported revenue of $328 million and a profit of $5.5 million. For the year the company reported a profit of $55.8 million.

 However not everything was rosy for the company: Coinstar CEO Paul Davis said Feb. 11, during a conference call with investors, that the workaround program Redbox has initiated in order to procure new release DVDs from Warner, Universal and Fox probably lowered revenue for the company by between $15 million and $25 million for the quarter. By Home Media Magazine

Redbox In Public Library Market Test: Report

Always looking for more ways to be accessible to renters, one of Redbox’s latest partnerships is with public libraries. The kiosk company is partnering with libraries in Henderson, NV; Charlotte, NC; Lexington, KY; Princeton, NJ and Orlando, FL. The libraries participating in the trial receive 3% of the income from the kiosk at their location, according to the Las Vegas Sun report. Via Inside Redbox

DVD Quantity Limits From Wal-Mart, Target To Hinder Redbox?

New quantity limits imposed by Wal-Mart and Target on the purchase of new release DVD movies affect 40% of rental kiosk offerings, including market leader Redbox, according to an analyst. Wal-Mart spokesperson Melissa O’Brien Jan. 27 confirmed the world’s largest retailer had imposed single purchase limits on new release DVD movies to five copies for the first 28 days of the title’s release. By Home Media Magazine

Redbox Stops Stocking New Releases With Low Box Offices: Analyst

The $1 DVD rental kiosk operator, which sued Warner, Fox and Universal after they imposed nearly month-long embargoes on new releases to kiosks, had vowed to stock the studios’ titles by acquiring them via third-party retailers such as Wal-Mart. But the extra legwork and cost involved in getting movies from studios with which Redbox does not have distribution agreements has apparently become a prohibitive strategy, says Merriman Curhan Ford analyst Eric Wold. By Home Media Magazine

NCR Kiosks To Sell Digital Music

Kiosk maker NCR and technology supplier MOD Systems are adding digital music sales capabilities to their Retail Digital Entertainment Platform, enabling brick-and-mortar retailers to offer DRM-free digital albums and tracks directly to consumers for download to flash memory cards and USB storage devices. The companies are exhibiting the new technology at the at the National Retail Federation convention in New York Jan. 11-12. Via Marketwire

Blockbuster Outlines Multiplatform Approach For 2010

At an investor conference in San Francisco yesterday, Blockbuster CEO Jim Keyes said physical distribution’s migration to electronic doesn’t meld with subscription-based business models. He said the likelihood of the company’s Blockbuster On Demand service being able to offer new releases by subscription was slim due to the limited return to studios. “I don’t think [studios] want to spend $400 million to make a movie like “Avatar” and then see it go in the all-you-can-eat buffet after 30 days,” Keyes said. “[They] are going to want to monetize it on an individual title-by-title basis as best [they] can.” By Home Media Magazine

Rentrak: DVD, Blu-ray Rentals Up 4% In ’09

U.S. consumer spending on DVD and Blu-ray rentals rose 4.1% to $6.5 billion in 2009, according to Rentrak’s Home Video Essentials, which collects point-of-sale data. During the year, kiosk revenue grew 94%, with the Redbox-dominated channel approaching $1 billion in revenue. Kiosk rentals were more than enough to offset a 3.2% decline in rentals from brick-and-mortar outlets such as Blockbuster and online sectors. By Variety

More Redbox Kiosks Stock Warner, Uni Titles On Street

Redbox’s workaround agreements to get releases from studios like Warner Home Video and Universal Studios Home Entertainment on street date may be working better than a few months ago, according to one analyst who covers the company. Or maybe not, if you ask folks who run independent video stores. By Video Business

NCR Brings Blockbuster DVD Kiosks To NYC

DVD kiosks are familiar sights throughout much of the U.S., but in not New York City, where supermarkets are few and Wal-Mart nonexistent. Redbox, for example, has only three kiosks in Manhattan. Now, in a deal with city drugstore chain Duane Reade, Redbox rival NCR is bringing its Blockbuster Express machines to more than 200 New York locations over the next several months. Via Business Wire

Redbox Launches iPhone App

The largest U.S. movie-rental kiosk operator has launched its own free app on iTunes, enabling users to find the nearest kiosk and reserve titles from certain locations. Meanwhile, a third party has released a 99-cent app designed to publish promotional codes that people can use for free Redbox rentals. By Video Business

Blockbuster Chief: Stores Could Supply Kiosks

If studios imposed a 30-day delay on new releases at Blockbuster kiosks — similar to the delay directed at Redbox and others — Blockbuster would be in the best position to satisfy consumer demand for titles, according to CEO Jim Keyes. “However [these windows] shake out, Blockbuster has an advantage with its own vending machines,” Keyes said at the Morgan Stanley Global Consumer and Retail conference last week. “If there is a 30-day window, we can use our distribution to move content from the shelves to our vending machines. We have the ability to replenish, managing a hub and spoke system.” By Video Business

Download Kiosk Venture Gets Freeman’s Help

Morgan Freeman and Lori McCreary’s Revelations Entertainment has thrown its financial resources and technical expertise behind Digiboo, a new venture that will allow consumers to rent films by plugging in a USB flash drive into retail kiosks. By Variety

Analyst: Redbox Improves Workaround For Fox, Warner Titles

Two weeks after finding “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” stocked in just more than two-thirds of Redbox kiosks, financial services firm Merriman Curhan Ford checked the same 50-plus kiosks in 17 cities Nov. 14 and found the 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment DVD stocked in 94% of machines. By Home Media Magazine

Kiosk Vendor NCR Tests Rentals Via SD Cards

In a test program at select Blockbuster and other stores, shoppers can download movie rentals from NCR kiosks to SD Digital cards. The movies then play on computers, mobile handsets, TVs, and other devices with SD Card slots. Kiosks currently offer 1,000 movies, with plans for them to offer 1,500 in 2010. MOD Systems supplies the download technology. Via Business Wire

Redbox Q3 Revenue Surges 90%

Coinstar’s third-quarter sales from Redbox and DVDXpress kiosks jumped to $198.1 million from $104.2 million a year earlier, according to a company earnings report released yesterday. Same-store DVD kiosk revenues rose 26% year-over-year, as Coinstar expanded its kiosk count during the quarter to 20,600 units. By Video Business

Redbox Testing Pricier Rentals

The DVD rental kiosk operator is now testing two different pricing models, one in the Harrisburg, PA area, the other in Albuquerque, NM, the company tells Home Media Magazine. Residents in the Albuquerque area are now charged $1.50 per night for a rental, while Harrisburg area residents can rent DVDs for $2 the first night, and $1 each night after. The rental prices are universal for both new release and catalog titles. By Home Media Magazine

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