Redbox Price Increase

[timmac]

I think it's very interesting to see how this was handled, and how it's playing out. So many people seem much less upset with Redbox than with Netflix. I'm guessing the PR around how it was handled it the main reason? Yes, the Netflix increase was a larger percentage, but if you consider the actual magnitude of the increased business costs (which most people here seem to understand), then Netflix's increase was really quite minimal compared to Redbox.

I personally think $1.20 is still a great value.

 

[ICF]

As most of you know, Red Box blocks out the extra features on the DVD. So you can see the movie, but not the extra stuff.

???????

We've watched deleted / extra scenes and stuff on the redbox rentals before.

 

[timmac]

???????

We've watched deleted / extra scenes and stuff on the redbox rentals before.

It may not be every DVD that's like that. At least one or two I've gotten have had either a notice on the DVD itself, or when you started playing the movie, that it was the feature presentation only, without extra features.

 

[diznee25]

???????

We've watched deleted / extra scenes and stuff on the redbox rentals before.

Nope, not for me. I forgot which movie we rented last week, but it was a standard DVD, and something popped up and said that the bonus features are not available.

I even tried to click the bonus features anyway, and it would allow me to watch them.

So far this has happened with every Red Box movie we've rented. And one was Blu Ray.

diznee25

 

[diznee25]

It may not be every DVD that's like that. At least one or two I've gotten have had either a notice on the DVD itself, or when you started playing the movie, that it was the feature presentation only, without extra features.

Yes, exactly that. It popped up as the movie started.

diznee25

 

[beavismom]

The studios are the ones driving these changes, including the lack of special features on the DVDs. DVD sales have dropped considerably due to the entry of Netflix and Redbox. In years past, when confronted with buying a DVD for $12-$15 vs. renting at Blockbuster for $5 plus possible late fees, people chose to buy a good bit of the time. Now, with less expensive options for rental, there are fewer sales. One of the ways they are trying to change this is by removing the special features from "rental" disks. If you look at most new movies from Redbox, they are clearly marked as a rental. It varies by studio, but expect to see it more and more.

As for price increases, Netflix (despite how badly they did it) and Redbox have to negotiate with the studios for both DVD and streaming rights and the studios have seen that streaming is most likely the wave of the future and are charging huge amounts in the new contracts. Not to say that there isn't some greed involved here and there, but all these businesses have to make money.