Redbox And Warner Bros. Agree To 28 Day Window For Kiosks, UltraViolet Support

The movie rental market couldn't be hotter. From digital distribution to Redbox, it's a booming market, and movie studios are still struggling to figure out how to best approach the growth. Redbox and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment have inked a new multi-year agreement to bring Warner Bros.' Blu-ray Disc and DVD titles to Redbox kiosks 28 days after their retail release dates. That's a big deal for movie lovers, who probably figured they were going to have to wait a lot longer to see discs hit their local Redbox. Previously, the gap between shipping to places like Walmart and hitting kiosks from Redbox was over 50 days. In addition, Redbox announced plans to join the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) and has agreed to promote UltraViolet through a program of mutually agreed-upon promotions and marketing tactics designed to help retail customers discover UltraViolet.

For titles with street dates between January 1, 2013 and December 31, 2014, the studio will grant Redbox the rights to offer Warner Bros. theatrical titles on Blu-ray Disc and DVD 28 days after their retail release dates. Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has also inked a separate deal with Redbox Instant by Verizon, the joint venture of Redbox and Verizon set to launch later this year, which plans to offer digital movies together with the convenience and value of Redbox DVD and Blu-ray Disc rentals. This agreement will make Warner Bros. titles available in VOD and EST formats and allow Redbox Instant by Verizon to support and distribute Warner Bros. UltraViolet-enabled movies. The deal also covers a multi-year SVOD agreement supporting feature-length content.


Hopefully, this is a sign that movie studios are willing to budge when it comes to the up-and-coming outlets that push their goods.