Verizon and Redbox have been working together at least since February to bring an exclusive streaming movie service to big reds network. Happily called Redbox Instant. Alpha testing or the service is set to begin by this afternoon according to Fast Company. How it all works, the number of titles and the monthly cost for it are still being kept under wraps for now at least. With Redbox locations all over the place, it is feasible to believe that you will have an account that will link you to physical rentals, probably via a barcode on your device’s screen, as well as streaming options.
Redbox does a fairly good job of bringing the latest DVD titles to their physical locations, we wonder how that will translate to digital streaming though as that is a whole new monster to deal with. If Verizon and Redbox plan to compete in the streaming media market, they are going to have to make sure they have a phenomenal list of content and be sure to make it affordable. Will they charge a buck per movie for one viewing or will they go with a monthly plan? We are extremely eager to find out how they put this out there.
As Arstechnica points out though, there is already a red flag popping up that could cause some trouble in the future. That would be the constant fight for net neutrality. Since Verizon is also an internet provider with FiOS, they will need to be certain that they aren’t favoring Redbox Instant traffic over Netflix or Hulu. We doubt Verizon would put themselves in that sort of position, but we are certain it will arise more than a few times.
Depending on the cost and the service they plan to release, how does a Redbox Instant streaming service sound to our Verizon friends out there? Be sure to check out the original press release by Verizon from February.
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