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Redbox, the highly visible kiosk video-rental provider headquartered in Oakbrook Terrace, will shut down its streaming service this week. This marks the anticlimactic end to their partnership with Verizon in hopes of competing with Netflix in the instant video space.
Streaming video will remain available until one minute before midnight, PST, on Tuesday, a statement on the Redbox Instant website said. Information on refunds will be made public on Oct. 10.
Redbox joined forces with Verizon to launch Redbox Instant in June of 2013. After a particularly slow quarter, a statement from Outerwall, Inc., which owns Redbox, said that the dissolution was decided upon “after careful consideration" by the joint venture partners. "The service had not been as successful as either partner hoped it would be."
[ibimage==41137==Large==none==self==ibimage_align-center]From early on, Redbox Instant suffered in comparison to Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu Plus. There were steady complaints about its selection and its user experience and widely circulated predictions of its demise. Redbox had the advantage of offering newer releases, but it doesn't seem to have been enough.
“June represented the lowest monthly theatrical box office in Redbox history,” said Outerwall CEO Scott Di Valerio in a statement. “Box office in June was down 83 percent from June 2013 as only four titles were released during the month.”
Existing customers have a few more hours to plow through their queues. “We apologize for any inconvenience,” said Redbox in a statement, “and we thank you for the opportunity to entertain you."
