Business

Redbox Instant to allow subscribers to stream movies straight to TVs

If getting off the couch and down to the grocery store to rent a DVD is just too much effort, cut-price movie-rental service Redbox has a new streaming service for you.

Redbox Instant by Verizon, a joint venture of Coinstar and Verizon, will offer subscribers paying $8 to $9 a month the flexibility of streaming movies straight to their TVs — while still being free to pick up four DVDs or so a month at one of the 42,000 Redbox vending machines when the spirit moves them.

The new venture, which signed up 10,000 customers during a test period, is seeking 35 million subscribers as it goes live.

That’s more than the 27.5 million US streaming and mail-order customers of Netflix.

But Redbox Instant will not have TV shows in its lineup.

Shawn Strickland, CEO of the joint venture, didn’t exactly inspire confidence that he could defeat Netflix, telling attendees at the Consumer Electronics Show that Redbox Instant is “no Netflix killer.”

It is focusing less on TV product, which has become Netflix’s strong suit, and more on providing fresher movie content, though new movies will be offered in short windows.

Redbox Instant has around 4,200 movies for streaming and has signed deals with Sony, MGM and Epix, among others.

It is set to compete with other movie and TV subscription streaming services from the likes of Hulu, Netflix and Amazon, among others.

Earlier this week, a Hollywood association known as the Digital Entertainment Group said consumer spending on streaming plus DVD services in 2012 rose 7.5 percent, to $3.59 billion, from the prior year.

The plain old vanilla kiosk rental business grew much faster, pulling in $1.9 billion, a 15.6 percent rise.

Coinstar replaced its CEO just days ago, appointing CFO Scott Di Valerio to the top post.