Rich Fiscus
28 Nov 2007 16:48
Seeing the recent success of DVD kiosk provider Redbook, Blockbuster has announced plans to provide DVD rental kiosks at Family Dollar and Papa John's pizza locations as part of a trial run for the new service.
In recent months Blockbuster's new CEO, James Keyes, has them focusing more on their traditional (brick and mortar) rental business, rather than trying to combat Internet DVD rental service Netflix on their own turf. However, the rental kiosk business has seen massive growth this year, in part because of Blockbuster rival Redbox getting kiosks positioned at McDonald's restaraunts around the U.S.
Just yesterday Redbox announced that their kiosks now give them a presence in more locations than Blockbuster, whose business is still conducted primarily at dedicated rental stores. No doubt Blockbuster executitves are going to be make a point of becoming a major player in the early stages of the kiosk market to avoid the problems they faced when Netflix became a serious competitor.
According to Blockbuster CEO James Keyes, “The next, bigger trend is for vending, and we are well positioned to be able to play through an electronic kiosk.”
Source: Home Media Magazine