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Warner joins Fox, Universal and pulls new releases from Redbox

13 August 2009 17:45 by Rich "vurbal" Fiscus | 13 comments

Following in the footsteps of Fox and Universal, Warner Entertainment has apparently decided to deny DVD rental kiosk operator Redbox access to new releases until a month after traditional brick and mortar stores get them.

Home Media Magazine is reporting that Warner Home Video has revised the terms of their wholesaler agreements to forbid sales to any kiosk operator. Instead those companies will be forced to cut deals directly with WHV.

This would allow them to require a 28 day waiting period as part of any agreement made directly with them.

While this move may prove advantageous to Redbox in their lawsuits against Universal and Fox, in which they are making antitrust claims, the effect on Warner Home Video revenue may be a much bigger problem for the studio.

Warner's plan can only succeed if consumers are choosing kiosks because of the movies they have rather than for reasons of convenience.

They are clearly presuming people who currently rent from Redbox when they leave a store or fast food restaurant would go out of their way to rent a movie somewhere else instead of choosing a different movie.

It seems at least as likely that kiosks are a major factor in the continued success of DVD rentals while sales fall.

The situation is somewhat reminiscent of that faced by music labels during the early days of commercial music downloads. Initially the labels insisted the music be sold on their terms, requiring DRM which clearly annoyed consumers.

After years of claiming that selling DRM-free music costs them money because it can be shared freely on P2P networks they were eventually forced to admit restricting consumers was the real problem.

In the intervening time they lost millions of sales to their own business model.

Instead of restricting how the movie can be played these studios are trying to force consumers to rent from outlets of their choosing. The theory is that people aren't buying movies because because kiosks don't offer that option.

The most obvious problem with this reasoning is the huge number of Redbox kiosks found in Wal-Marts across the US. And Wal-Mart most certainly does sell plenty of DVDs.

Permalink to this article

Sony, Toshiba, Hitachi facing antitrust probe in U.S. (27 October 2009)

Independent retailers start campaign against Redbox (5 September 2009)

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Discuss this article!
pphoenix (Inactive) 13 August 2009 18:59
and yet again the movie giants prove their contempt for their customers! down with the monopolies of the MPAA & RIAA. MPAA, MPA, FACT, AFACT, Ect: # Sony Pictures # Warner Bros. (Time Warner) # Universal Studios (NBC Universal) # The Walt Disney Company # 20th Century Fox (News Corporation) # Paramount Pictures Viacom�(DreamWorks owners since February 2006) RIAA, CRIA, SOUNDEXCHANGE, BPI, IFPI, Ect: # Sony BMG Music Entertainment # Warner Music Group # Universal Music Group # EMI [ + quote]
ZippyDSM (AfterDawn Addict) 13 August 2009 22:15
Question don't most of these film makers make rental only copies and would that have an effect on when rental stores get them? [ + quote]
tony2toes (Junior Member) 13 August 2009 23:48
These people who run these studios are morons, people that want to purchase the dvd "will", people who just want to rent "will". Just cause they hold a new release for a month from redbox will not make me cave in and go buy the dvd. Why dont they focus on putting out quality movies that I will want to watch a couple of times and maybe I will buy the dvd. [ + quote]
KillerBug (AfterDawn Addict) 14 August 2009 0:07
I can't say I'll miss redbox, but such a selective targeting of one company is always unsettling. Also: These studios claim that redbox is bad because the movies are not available for purchase next to the rentals. In my experience, this is not true. Most of the redbox machines I have seen were located in stores that sold DVDs and BluRays, and the box is usualy near the DVDs and BluRays. [ + quote]
ZippyDSM (AfterDawn Addict) 14 August 2009 7:09
*Originally posted by tony2toes:* These people who run these studios are morons, people that want to purchase the dvd "will", people who just want to rent "will". Just cause they hold a new release for a month from redbox will not make me cave in and go buy the dvd. Why dont they focus on putting out quality movies that I will want to watch a couple of times and maybe I will buy the dvd. Ya and not counting the thousands of discs that they by a quarterly.... its like they can't see that they are making money either way. [ + quote]
grkblood (Senior Member) 14 August 2009 8:26
*Originally posted by pphoenix:* and yet again the movie giants prove their contempt for their customers! down with the monopolies of the MPAA & RIAA. MPAA, MPA, FACT, AFACT, Ect: # Sony Pictures # Warner Bros. (Time Warner) # Universal Studios (NBC Universal) # The Walt Disney Company # 20th Century Fox (News Corporation) # Paramount Pictures Viacom�(DreamWorks owners since February 2006) RIAA, CRIA, SOUNDEXCHANGE, BPI, IFPI, Ect: # Sony BMG Music Entertainment # Warner Music Group # Universal Music Group # EMI nobrainer, you still lurking around these parts? [ + quote]
varnull (Inactive) 14 August 2009 8:35
^^^^^^^^^^^ .. what does your post add? This is getting pointless.. redbox have already decided to go into wallyworld and just buy the retail disks and rent them out.. same as any small independent rental store can. Guess they read my post suggesting they do just that.. nice one guys.. now why don't you come to the UK so I can pay �1 for my rip instead of �1.50 in electric to download it? I will never give a brass farthing to the cartel.. they can suck it and see.. until i get rid of that particular bit of my anatomy.. I might send the leftovers to the mpaa with a nice letter.. only way I can see of making a point. Free open source software = made by end users who want an application to work. I would rather you hate me for who I am than love me for what I am not. �It is poor civic hygiene to install technologies that could someday facilitate a police state.� - Bruce Schneier [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 14 August 2009 8:37
grkblood (Senior Member) 14 August 2009 8:48
varnull, out of all the people here i thought you would have been one of the members to get that. Anyways...let them do what they want. Out of all of the mess that goes around with DRM and X company doing so and so to Y company I have yet to find myself in a situation where it has effected me in obtaining the content I want to use. This is probably a very crude and snobby way of looking at things but oh well, I can't help it. This is a never ending battle with these guys so either get with the times and learn how to REALLY use the internet or fall back on your dependance of using something like Redbox for however long you can. Honestly, I hope Redbox wins in the end but Ive never found myself renting anything from these guys. I'll always be rooting for the little man but the guys over at Redbox couldn't have really thought that their company was going to go flawless without any hiccups considering who their unwanted business partners are could they? [ + quote]
maryjayne (Junior Member) 14 August 2009 10:44
*Quote:* Warner's plan can only succeed if consumers are choosing kiosks because of the movies they have rather than for reasons of convenience. Imagine this: make a brick and mortar store that only sells DVDs and then put a Redbox in the front of the store. How many people will go there to specifically rent movies? One of the key factors of Redbox is its convenience. The second biggest factor is the $1/day rental charge for new releases. If the studios are so concerned about people going to BB or some other similar rental store so they can be exposed to purchase a movie, then they should partner with major rental stores that are still alive and lower the rental fee to a competitive price to that of Rebox. I think that if the studios win this deal, then a lot more people will be turning to Netflix. The consumer likes convenience. [ + quote]
Xian (Senior Member) 14 August 2009 21:16
What if they are just testing the waters? Next thing you know they will be trying to boost their sales by not allowing anyone to rent movies for the first month of release, not just Redbox. I certainly wouldn't put it past them. [ + quote]
KillerBug (AfterDawn Addict) 14 August 2009 23:25
*Originally posted by Xian:* What if they are just testing the waters? Next thing you know they will be trying to boost their sales by not allowing anyone to rent movies for the first month of release, not just Redbox. I certainly wouldn't put it past them. I think even the big movie houses know that this will spark a lot of piracy...here is a typical script of what would happen: John buys the latest BS movie from walmart, watches it, and recomends it to Bill. Bill try to rent it, but it is not at the store, and he does not want to spend $20 on it. The next day John asks bill if he had watched it, and he tells him why he did not. The next day John brings a DVDR of the movie to work and gives it to Bill...without bill even asking for it. [ + quote]
sssharp (Junior Member) 15 August 2009 22:35
The dollar complaints are awful. It is only a buck because their is no store, employees, rent, utilities etc. This is the reason for the cheap price. I have looked but have yet to rent or buy. The companies complaining is just another way to say we need more money(ceo,mgmt). [ + quote]
LM2008 (Newbie) 20 August 2009 7:23
*Originally posted by tony2toes:* These people who run these studios are morons, people that want to purchase the dvd "will", people who just want to rent "will". Just cause they hold a new release for a month from redbox will not make me cave in and go buy the dvd. Why dont they focus on putting out quality movies that I will want to watch a couple of times and maybe I will buy the dvd. I agree 100% with you. Personally, i have in mind which movies i'm gonna rent or buy because i don't buy every movie that comes up. Mostly, i buy horror films or comic based like watchmen. [ + quote]