Redbox rolls out Blu-ray rentals
The quickly growing movie rental company is now bringing Blu-ray movies to its kiosks. They'll cost $1.50 per day.
Redbox, which has rented more than 880 million DVDs since its inception, is now starting to offer Blu-ray rentals at some of its 23,000 kiosks, the company announced Friday.
The company didn't provide too many details on its Blu-ray rentals. A new Blu-ray page is displayed on the company's site, saying simply that the company now rents the format. It also has a search box where users can input their ZIP codes to see if Blu-ray films are available in their area.
According to a Twitter update sent out earlier today on the official Redbox account, the rental company will be offering Blu-ray films for $1.50, 50 cents more than its DVD rentals.
Redbox plans to have Blu-ray in all of its locations by the fall, the tweet said. I did a quick search of ZIP codes around my area in upstate New York, as well as around New York City. In every case, I was unable to find a single Redbox outlet offering Blu-ray movies. There were, however, several kiosks with Blu-ray films around Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Redbox's decision to expand its business with Blu-ray films comes just weeks after Blockbuster, one of its chief competitors in the rental market, was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange because of poor performance. Netflix, on the other hand, continues to perform well in large part due to its expanding streaming business.
Redbox did not immediately respond to request for comment on how many kiosks currently offer Blu-ray movies, and where they are located.