Redbox is testing a new streaming service with a small group of customers called Redbox Digital, Variety reported on Thursday.
The move comes about four months after a report first surfaced that the plan was in the works — and two years after Redbox shut down its last streaming video venture.
Redbox, owned by Bellevue, Wash.-based Outerwall, has seen falling revenue in recent years as physical rentals from its kiosks decline. The new program would let Redbox fans transition to streaming rentals by offering those rentals on the same site used to reserve physical copies.
Variety notes that Redbox has created a Redbox Digital iPad app for the new service as part of the testing and that it also updated its official terms of service on its website with a large section devoted to the streaming service.
There is no indication about pricing, but Variety points out that streaming rentals are sure to cost much more than the $1.50 Redbox charges for physical copies at its kiosks. For example, superhero flick “Deadpool” is $5.99 to rent in HD on Amazon Prime Video.
Outerwall CEO Scott Di Valerio previously told GeekWire, following the lackluster reception to its Instant Streaming venture with Verizon, that the company “learned a lot about our consumers — what they like, what they don’t like, what they trust about us.”
He said at the time that Redbox customers are “transactional in nature,” preferring to make a la carte purchases, rather than paying for a monthly subscription.
