BLUE DVD KIOSKS WILL BE TURNING RED

Redbox is taking over Blockbuster Express. In a surprise announcement on Monday, Coinstar, which operates the Redbox DVD kiosks, and NCR, which has operated the Blockbuster Express kiosks said that they will merge. Under the deal Redbox will pay NCR $100 million for its assets in company. For the time being, the Blockbuster Express logo […]

BLOCKBUSTER EXPRESS TAKES ON REDBOX

After making it known that it is looking for a buyer for its Blockbuster Express video rental kiosks, NCR said on Wednesday that it plans to launch a big ad campaign touting the advantages of its kiosks over those of its chief rival, Redbox. (The principal advantage, apparently, is that unlike Redbox users, those renting […]

BLOCKBUSTER SLASHES RENTAL RATES

Blockbuster, which was recently acquired by satellite operator DISH Network, is at last doing what many analysts had been urging it to do for years — compete with rivals like Netflix and Redbox on price. It announced on Thursday that beginning today (Friday) it is lowering the prices of thousands of videos to 99 cents […]

WILL BLOCKBUSTER SHUT DOWN?

In what appeared to some analysts as yet another step toward the disappearance of the familiar blue façades that have been a part of the U.S. retail scene for the past quarter-century, Blockbuster on Tuesday agreed to sell itself to a so-called stalking horse consortium of its debtholders for $290 million in a deal that […]

DVD WINDOW HURTING KIOSK OPERATOR REDBOX

The deal between kiosk operator Redbox and several studios that prevents Redbox from renting DVDs until 28 days after they hit retail shelves was being blamed for lower-than-expected earnings for Redbox parent Coinstar. While on Thursday Coinstar reported fourth-quarter income from DVD sales of $11.7 million — up from $3.4 million for the year-ago quarter […]

BLOCKBUSTER EXPRESS EXPANDS SALES OF DVD’S

Further demonstrating its independence from the rental company with which it shares its name, NCR’s Blockbuster Express said Monday that it plans to expand the ability of its kiosks to sell movies to customers as well as rent them. It said that it is also negotiating deals with studios that will allow it to rent […]

NCR: KIOSKS NOT PART OF BLOCKBUSTER BANKRUPTCY

The kiosks may be blue and be plastered with the familiar Blockbuster logo, but NCR, which makes and installs the kiosks, assured its customers that it owns all of them and that Blockbuster’s decision to seek bankruptcy protection has no effect on their operations. In an email to customers made public on Monday by Home […]

BLOCKBUSTER KIOSK DEPLOYMENT QUESTIONED

Reports that Blockbuster is planning to install some 10,000 Blockbuster Express kiosks in key locations by the end of the year may have been exaggerated. According to Home Media magazine, the kiosks are being installed, financed and stocked not by Blockbuster but by the maker of the kiosks, NCR Corp. The magazine said on Tuesday […]

JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR PRESCRIBED? REDBOX AT CVS

Representing a significant expansion, Coinstar’s Redbox said on Thursday that it has signed a deal witH CVS to install more than 6,000 of its DVD/Blu-ray Disc rental kiosks at the pharmacy retail outlets by the end of 2011. Redbox currently counts 23,000 locations. Coinstar has been engaged in a bruising battle with NCR Corp., which […]

NCR TO OFFER MOVIES ON MEMORY CHIPS AT AIRPORTS

Travelers will soon be able to rent movies from NCR-manufactured kiosks in 35 major U.S. airports. Only they won’t be on DVD. Instead the kiosks will use Secure Digital (SD) memory cards and USB memory chips playable on Windows-based laptops or Apple’s iPad. NCR said on Tuesday that other devices — presumably devices like Apple’s […]