REDBOX USERS APPEAR TO ACCEPT 20-PERCENT RATE HIKE

Unlike Netflix subscribers who signaled their displeasure with the video rental company’s rate hike with their feet, users of Redbox kiosks appeared unfazed by the company’s 20 percent rate hike that went into effect this week, according to a spot check in North Hollywood, CA conducted by Home Media magazine. Interviewed as he was returning two discs that his son had rented, local resident George Alonzo told the magazine, “I still think it’s cheap. … We get everything from comedy to action stuff for the kids. We’ll keep renting.” Another local, José Villanero, remarked, “I usually get them back the next day, so I’m not worried about it. … Absolutely, it’s still a decent price.” On the website SeekingAlpha.com, writer Joseph Poma described third-quarter earnings for Redbox parent Coinstar as “fantastic” and predicted that the 20-percent increase in price “will yield a tremendous increase in revenue.” He also predicted that the company will see an increase in rentals from video games as users of the kiosks become aware of their availability. “Unlike movies,” Poma remarked, “video games are interactive and addicting, and there would be a propensity for the duration of these rentals to be longer than a single day.”