GigaOM » Shawn Strickland

Redbox Instant app arrives on Xbox Live

Janko Roettgers — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 19:20:08 +0000

Xbox users can now access the new subscription video service from Redbox Instant by Verizon, thanks to a new app that launched on Xbox Live Tuesday. This is the first time the service has been available on a game console, and it also marks the beginning of a marketing campaign for Redbox Instant, which went into public beta just a few days ago.

Redbox Instant offers subscribers four Redbox DVD rentals as well as unlimited streaming access to around 4,600 movies for $8 a month. An additional 4,000 newer titles are offered as streaming rentals or purchases. After a limited-time free introductory offer, Redbox Instant customers will need an Xbox Live Gold subscription to use the service on Microsoft’s game console, which will set them back another $5 a month.

The company launched its closed beta test at the end of December, and opened up to the public mid-March after convincing tens of thousands of testers to become paying customers, according to Redbox Instant CEO Shawn Strickland.

Strickland told me last week that the launch on Xbox Live would also kick off the company’s first real marketing efforts, and that Redbox Instant would start to specifically target Verizon and Redbox customers soon after. Apps for LG, Google TV and Vizio devices would follow in the next few weeks, he added.

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Redbox Instant launches publicly, CEO calls original content talk premature

Janko Roettgers — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 17:43:13 +0000

Surprise! Redbox Instant by Verizon officially launched to the public Thursday, just as I had predicted in an earlier story. The launch comes after a three-month-long closed beta test that Redbox Instant CEO Shawn Strickland characterized as a great learning opportunity during a phone conversation Thursday morning. “Now we are open for business,” he added.

Redbox Instant currently offers its subscribers access to 4,600 subscription titles and four Redbox DVD rentals for $8 a month. Customers can also digitally rent or buy around 4,000 movies for a fee to augment their subscriptions with newer fare. Strickland told me that the service saw interest from “hundreds of thousands” of consumers who signed up to join the closed beta test. Tens of thousands not only joined for a free trial, but stayed around to become paying customers after their trial period ended.

So who are those Redbox Instant customers? Strickland said that the beta test confirmed the company’s belief that it was primarily catering to people who still value physical rentals. “It’s a disc plus offering,” he said, with streaming supplementing DVD rentals. That’s also reflected in the type of content the company is making available for streaming. “It clearly starts with movies,” said Strickland, adding that the focus might evolve over time.

That approach is very different from Netflix, which also started out with a movie-focused DVD service, but now invests heavily in TV content. Does that mean Netflix and Redbox are going to be complementary, as opposed to arch-enemies? My conversation with Strickland left me with the impression that he would be okay with that — as long as people are paying for his company’s service as well.

“We think that the over-the-top space will evolve very similarly to the cable and network space,” he said. Meaning: You might get your content from more than one streaming provider in the future, just like you get it from more than one cable network.

Of course, a large part of the rise of cable networks like HBO or even AMC has been the production of original content, something that has been an increasing focus of Netflix and Hulu as well. CAA agent Peter Micelli speculated a few days ago that Redbox Instant may venture into original content as well. Strickland called this kind of talk “really premature,” explaining that Redbox Instant doesn’t even have enough insights into what kind of exclusive content its subscribers could be interested in yet. But he added: “From an industry perspective, there is a clear force in that direction.”

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Redbox Instant won’t be ready until next year, after all

Janko Roettgers — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 23:39:38 +0000

Updated. Looks like Redbox Instant by Verizon, the streaming service joint venture that is trying to take on Netflix, won’t actually be launching until next year. Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam said Tuesday during the UBS Media conference that the service will launch in the late first or early second quarter of 2013, according to the Hollywood Reporter. ~~The service will enter an extended beta test in early January, McAdam said.~~

Verizon and Redbox have kept mum on key details of the service, but GigaOM broke the story last week that Rebox is targeting a price point of $6 per month for basic streaming access, with $8 per month giving users an additional four DVD credits that will be redeemable at Redbox kiosks. Instructions on a help section meant for beta testers that was temporarily publicly available also suggested that the launch could happen as soon as December 17. The company had also previously stated that it would launch before the end of this year.

Redbox Instant representatives didn’t want to comment on those details, but the company sent over a statement credited to its CEO Shawn Strickland: “We appreciate the enthusiasm for Redbox Instant by Verizon and we look forward to sharing the full details of the service soon.”

Now we know: soon won’t actually be that soon.

Update: A spokesperson for Redbox Instant by Verizon got in touch with us late Tuesday to clarify that the consumer beta will in fact launch some time this month.

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