By: Chris Tribbey, Home Media Magazine
Verizon and Redbox are planning a partnership that would see video content available for both streaming and downloading by May of 2012, according to the Web site TechCrunch.com.
An unnamed source told the site the service would include a subscription option, and would deliver both standard and high-def content to a variety of devices, platforms and operating systems.
Several monthly and credit-based service tiers would be offered, including some offering physical disc, TechCrunch reported.
A Redbox spokeswoman said she could not comment on the report.
Earlier in the week, a Reuters story, also quoting unnamed sources, reported Verizon was readying a subscription VOD service targeting 85 million households without access to its fiber-optic FiOS TV platform.
Eric Wold, analyst with B. Riley & Co. in Los Angeles, said the Verizon deal likely occurred because the telco could provide Redbox with both an existing digital platform and requisite content license agreements -- the latter increasingly expensive to attain in a market driven by Netflix and Hulu Plus spending, among others.
Wold believes Redbox would be wise to charge $5.95 for a combo subscription for both rental discs and streaming -- a price point he believes would attract defecting Netflix subscribers. He said such a price would also position it favorably against Blockbuster's $10 Movie Pass in-store/streaming platform, which also requires a Dish satellite TV subscription.
"We believe Redbox’s 30,000 locations are superior to the 1,500 Blockbuster stores," Wold wrote in a Dec. 8 note. "While this will not eliminate any lingering [Coinstar] investor concerns around interchange fees or upcoming studio expirations, we expect near-term interchange fee relief to boost estimates and understand that Redbox has developed a long-term workaround should Warner Bros. play hardball with its [disc] negotiations."
Article Link: http://www.homemediamagazine.com/redbox/report-redbox-verizon-partner-vod-25832
“I think that’s a positive for Netflix,” said Eric Wold, a senior analyst at B. Riley & Co., in an interview with MarketWatch. “Up to now, they haven’t been able to connect to Facebook and Twitter. This can create a lot of marketing possibilities, as their customers can share what movies and TV shows they’ve been watching on Netflix.”
Continue Reading >Eric Wold, analyst with B. Riley & Co. in Santa Monica, Calif., believes Netflix’s defections could reach 4.7 million, which he said represent upwards of $445 million in disc rental revenue up for grabs. In a Nov. 16 note, Wold surmised that the majority of the aforementioned defectors would downsize their monthly rental activity since a-la-carte rentals carry a higher perceived cost than a monthly subscription.
Continue Reading >With the rental agreement between Warner and Redbox set to expire Jan. 31, 2012, B. Riley & Co. analyst Eric Wold doubts Redbox management would agree to a 56-day or longer embargo on new-release Warner titles — even with built-in per-unit discounts.
Continue Reading >