Redbox goes box office with event ticketing
Philly-area residents will be the first to buy tickets from Redbox's DVD kiosks and Web site.
You soon may be able to buy tickets at the same place you rent your DVDs.
Redbox, the provider of DVD-rental kiosks, said today that it's now selling tickets to Philadelphia events. The service is available today at certain Philly-area kiosks and online and will roll out to the more than 650 kiosks in that market by mid-October.
Redbox's biggest selling point is that all tickets -- including those to concerts, sports events, and cultural attractions -- will be sold at or below face value, and it's only charging a $1 fee per ticket. That's much lower than the fees from other vendors that have sometimes added 40 percent or more to the cost of a ticket.
Redbox has been doubling down on DVDs at a time when video-renting rival Netflix is acting as if the discs are all but dead. But Redbox and parent company Coinstar have also been looking at other offerings, hoping to appease investors worried about slowing DVD demand. More and more video is moving online, and that has been impacting Redbox's growth rate.