Video stores, union reps rally against buck-a-night DVD kiosks

The $1 movie rentals available through DVD kiosks like Redbox could spell "disaster" for the film and video industries—or at least, that's the argument of representatives for video stores and Hollywood unions, who want movie lovers to dump Redbox and return to their corner "mom-and-pop" DVD rental outlets.

Video Business reports that the Video Buyers Group, a trade organization for some 1,700 independent brick-and-mortar video stores, is prepping an ad campaign that'll paint Redbox as a threat to the film industry as we know it. Why? Because its $1-a-night rental rate is "generating less revenue" for Hollywood studios than the $3-$5/night prices charged by the average video store, according to Video Business.

http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/patterson/56470

You don't get to keep the RedBox DVDs for a week, like you do with the video store rentals. 1$ for 1 night, 4.50 for five nights at my local Hollywood Video store. Unless the person doing the renting brings it back early, I really see no difference in profit. Am I really stupid? Why don't I get it?

Once you hit 25 days, the move is yours to keep.

I was using Redbox until it became too popular and I couldn't get the movies I wanted, I'm back with Netflix now, and have been enjoying some relatively recent HBO and Showtime series that I hadn't seen yet, such as Dexter, something that you can't do with Redbox.

that's more than the video store. I still don't see how that hurts Hollywood.

It doesn't matter I guess, I too am a Netflix customer never to look back on rental places or Redboxes.

When I was renting from Redbox, I typically kept the movies a day or two, and you could rent up to five at a time, that would start to get very pricey compared to Netflix.

We stopped shopping at the local video store over late fees. We now have Netflix; if we forget to return the movie, no late fees.

We also have gotten movies from Redbox.

The studios have nobody to blame but themselves...

Some one has to restock these machines. And fix them when they break.

Sadly, a Blockbuster replaced it 5 years ago. And no, I don't care if they suffer.

and both of them put out the smaller regional chains and M&P stores that had the area before the big guys moved in.

The $1 price is certainly nice and we've started occasionally grabbing one here or there but you only get the movie for one night and the selection is NOWHERE near what you can find at Blockbuster, Netflix, or any of the other video rental stores. It may evolve into something larger but we're not planning on giving up our Blockbuster Rental Club Membership anytime soon.

however you can keep the movies for more than one night, and the best thing is that you can return the movies to any Redbox machine, anywhere. I was traveling from eastern PA to Southern NJ for a few months and would frequently rent movies near home and return them to another Redbox over 100 miles away. I also rented at home, traveled to Ohio, returned movies there, and rented more for a short business stay, returning the OH movies back in PA.

a selection of like 70 movies (many of which are out of stocke when you look) verses thousands, including tv shows and other stuff.

We actually go to the video store a lot less, not due to Redbox or the internet, but since we got cable with HBO and dvr. I put off getting cable for 5 years and my wife and I finally just got it last year, haven't been to a video store or redbox since. There's so many movies on, all day every day, and I can DVR all of them to watch any time. I don't see how Redbox is any more of a threat than cable.

I probably couldn't watch more than one movie per night.

I rent from iTunes... I get 30 days to watch it, and once I start watching I get 24 hours to finish.

That doesn't even make sense to me. The mom and pops buy the DVDs just like RedBox, right? How does the price of the rental go back to "Hollywood"?

And furthermore - where are these mom and pop video stores? Are they really talking about Blockbuster and Hollywood Video? LOL

I usually keep a video three or four days anyway, so the price isn't that big a deal. But I can pick up a video at a RedBox in Lemoyne and return it to one in Carlisle. No problem. Try doing that at Blockbuster!

I've got 5 Redboxes within 5 minutes of my house. I can see which movies each one has and can reserve the one I want and know it will be there before I leave the house.

Disadvantage - I have to wait in line behind 6 people while they pick out a selection, try to rent it and it isn't there, they spend a few minutes reading the boxes to pick another one, it's not there, etc. I have easily waited for 15 minutes multiple times to get up to the box to get the video I already knew I was going to get.

business. DVD killed the movie business. Pirates killed the movie business. Bummer. Not a single movie to see at the 27 plex today :eyes:

I think it takes me as long to get a movie at a redbox as it does at a video store because there is usually a line.

I use redbox, but I also have the $8.99 netflix 1 at a time plan. And I still get videos from the library or video store. Redbox has a very limited selection.

I think the big risk will come in 5 years when broadband is advanced enough that you get instant streaming of 100k movies off of netflix or some other company either for a flat monthly rate or $1 a movie. Right now netflix streaming is ok, but many of the movies are 30 years old or B movies.

Damn socialist setups, they are.