DISNEY RAISES PRICES IT CHARGES REDBOX, NETFLIX

Apparently bowing to pressure from investors, Disney, with the release of Secretariat last month, began raising the wholesale price of DVDs that it sells to Redbox and Netflix, the Los Angeles Times reported today (Thursday). Disney, Paramount, and, in a limited number of cases, Sony have been the only studios that do not require that the two mammoth low-cost rental services wait 28 days from the time the discs are released before they provide them to consumers. The other major studios, Fox, Universal, and Warner Bros., each charge Redbox and Netflix $10.79 after the 28 days. Disney began charging them the full wholesale rate, as much as $17.99. It’s not known whether the two discount “rentailers” will cut back the number of discs they buy in order to offset the price increase — something that could result in fewer discs becoming available to their customers.