Redbox Raises Prices on Movie Rentals | Epoch Times
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Redbox Raises Prices on Movie Rentals
Oct 31st, 2011 @ 12:31 am › By Franklin Yu/Epoch Times Staff
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Movie titles are seen displayed on a Redbox DVD rental kiosk in San Rafael, Calif. Coinstar, which owns Redbox, said that it would raise the daily price of a rental from $1 to $1.20. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Movie titles are seen displayed on a Redbox DVD rental kiosk in San Rafael, Calif. Coinstar, which owns Redbox, said that it would raise the daily price of a rental from $1 to $1.20. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

NEW YORK—Following the footsteps of its rival Netflix, movie-rental-kiosk-operator Redbox said that it would raise its rental price starting Monday, Oct. 31.

Nightly DVD rental prices will increase from $1 to $1.20 per day, a 20 percent increase.

The increase will help cover debit card fees. “The price change is based on an increase in operating costs, including higher debit card fees that went into effect October 1,” Redbox reported in an announcement on its website.

However, customers can still lock in the $1 per day price until Nov. 30 if they reserve online.

Studios Plan to Double Rental Delay

The outlook for consumers looking to rent new movies is looking bleak.

Several of Hollywood’s biggest movie studios are seeking to increase the current 28-day moratorium on video rentals of new releases, to as long as 60 days, according to a Bloomberg report citing unnamed sources. This means that customers of rental companies like Redbox and Netflix will have to wait 60 days after the regular DVD release before they can rent to their customers.

Warner Brothers, Universal Pictures, and Fox all currently impose a 28-day ban.

According to analysts, studios can make more money on DVD sales and online streaming video rentals than they would otherwise make from large DVD rental companies.

Redbox is a subsidiary of automated retail giant Coinstar Inc. Shares of Coinstar (Nasdaq: CSTR) fell by a little more than 7 percent last Friday.

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  • Jason Surber

    I seriously think that the movie studios would only hurt themselves by putting a 60 day wait on new movies, most likely driving more people to downloading illegal copies off the internet instead of spending the $1.20 to rent them. My dad used to tell me steady money is better then no money, the studio’s might want to live by that saying as well. And I am seriously surprised that this type of an increase made as big of a deal as it did, OK it is 20% but its only 20 cents.

    I think that is a lot more tolerable then Netflix’s
    increase. When I dropped Netflix though it was motivated by the increase
    itself, I just didn’t think I would make it valuable to keep at that price. So
    after a month of using Redbox happily, I looked at my month finances. Funny
    thing I spent 15.00 at Redbox plus 30.00 in lunches at McDonald’s which
    explained why my pants are tight. So the wife banned me from picking out movies
    at Redbox. So what now do I run back to Netflix with my tail between my legs? I
    don’t think so I still have one more trick up my sleeve before she get’s to
    hear that she was right.  Working at DISH
    I of course know we had the Blockbuster Movie pass available to us, I was
    concerned with my memories of the 1990′s blue shirt mafia stalking me for late
    fees. I did get over the memory though, but I am still looking over my back.
    They say the late fees are gone and I will trust them. The Blockbuster Movie
    Pass is 10.00 for DISH subscribers with the first 3 months free, (at least I
    made my money back from the Big Mac’s)  I
    get DVD’s by mail, and an additional 20 movie channels added to my DISH
    receiver.