Redbox Partners with Verizon to Offer Streaming Movie Service

As 网飞公司 morphs into a streaming video giant, it's biggest threat might be Redbox，提供影碟租借服务.

周一, “币币星”, Redbox的母公司, made two key announcements: “币币星” is swallowing the 轰动一时的表达 business and partnering with Verizon to create a streaming delivery solution.

轰动一时的表达

The fact that “币币星” is taking over a kiosk competitor should come as no surprise. 轰动一时的表达的售货亭是负品牌稀释已经名誉扫地的百视达. Plus, they have no tie to 百视达's in-store Total Access program.

轰动一时的表达 wasn't even run by 百视达's parent company, Dish Networks. Rather, the 轰动一时的表达 name was licensed out to cash register-maker NCR.

Word on the street is that “币币星” will acquire the assets of NCR's entertainment division for just shy of $100 million, freeing NCR to focus on its own backlog of traditional point-of-sale systems for retail stores and restaurants.

Lest anyone worry that $100 million will break the “币币星” bank, the company announced the acquisition of the 轰动一时的表达 kiosks during an 财报电话会议 that saw it nearly triple revenues over the fourth quarter of 2010, earning $31.每股52元.

百视达, 就其本身而言, explained away the sale of 轰动一时的表达 to Redbox by promoting its premium pricing on day and date of release -- an advantage that 百视达 has over almost every other company in the brick-and-mortar and streaming delivery markets.

"Until the transaction is completed (we anticipate in the third quarter of 2012),杰森·霍德写道, 百视达总经理, 您将继续享受便利, 选择, and value you're used to from 轰动一时的表达. 直到交易完成, we will continue to run the business as we have been, focused on bringing you the latest new release movies with most titles only $2 for the first night."

威瑞森通讯

The other news that “币币星” announced was its impending partnership with 威瑞森通讯, creating a streaming media component to complement its DVD rental business.

Forming a partnership illustrates a key difference between 网飞公司 and “币币星”: while 网飞公司 is moving away from physical discs as fast as it can, “币币星” is strengthening its kiosk business while partnering for streaming, Verizon在这一领域更有经验.

"Verizon brings to the partnership its relationship with film studios and distribution technology, such as cloud computing and network infrastructure,罗杰·余在昨天的报纸上写道 《百家乐软件》. "Redbox provides its movie-rental brand recognition and the ability to bundle streaming with immediate access to 35,400年亭."

Inventory and pricing details weren't released by “币币星” or Verizon. The two companies expect the service offering to begin around the same time the NCR asset sale of 轰动一时的表达 kiosks is finalized.

Going forward, “币币星” faces two threats in its venture with Verizon:

1. 品牌稀释. Redbox will need to differentiate between what's available in the kiosks versus what's available online.

2. 声誉. Redbox's reputation will now, to a large extent, rest on Verizon. If the streaming service lacks the ease of a Redbox kiosk, 那么“币币星”可能会面临消费者的反弹.

“币币星”需要小心，否则它会落入陷阱 that 百视达 did when it launched its Total Access package (combining DVD-by-mail and brick-and-mortar) but ignored its 百视达-branded kiosks. That would be a pity for a company that's done well by presenting one simple offering: DVDs and Blu-Ray discs at a single price at a convenient local kiosk.