Accidentally Public Help Section Reveals Pricing, Availability, More for Redbox Instant
posted Saturday Dec 8, 2012 by Nicholas DiMeo
Back in the summer, we reported on Verizon teaming up with Redbox to deliver a new video streaming service, Redbox Instant. This week, we've discovered that it's possible the service will launch very soon. There was a section on Redbox's site that was only supposed to be available to the closed beta members but was somehow publicly accessible. In fact, the help section was so in-depth that we now have some details on pricing and other information.
Granted, it's possible that this information could change a month or even a week before the service goes public, but it's always nice to get a little heads up on a new streaming service. Here's what we know for now:
- Subscriptions are as low as $6 per month, which will give customers unlimited streaming capabilities to the entire video catalog. We can assume that the catalog will be much smaller than Netflix's or even Amazon's but we do know that Thor and Iron Man 2 are in the list.
- For $8 per month, you can get four Redbox credits added to your streaming subscription, which allows you to rent DVDs from physical Redbox locations. This will most likely be for movies that are only available via DVD but users will be able to reserve the disc from the website or via mobile app. Also, this isn't AT&T and credits will not rollover to the next month and will expire.
- Redbox Instant will also deliver video-on-demand rentals and sales of titles that are newer and not available for streaming yet. Customers can download these titles for offline access and prices start at 99 cents.
- Redbox Instant will be available on the web, Android and iOS devices, Xbox 360 (no PS3 from what we see) and on certain Samsung TVs and Blu-Ray players. Just like Netflix, you will be able to have five devices registered to your account at any one time.
- The service will also be using Silverlight for web-streaming, just like we see on Netflix. This news makes me smile a little bit on the inside.
- Lastly, from the now-removed help section, we saw that beta testers would not be able to use their Redbox credits that are included with their service at some Redbox locations until December 17th. This could lead us to believe we will either see a soft launch, public launch or announcement of official details on that date or shortly after.
Of course, you could imagine this news has spread across the Internet rapidly, so naturally Redbox Instant by Verizon's CEO Shawn Strickland made an official statement shortly after the news break.
We appreciate the enthusiasm for Redbox Instant by Verizon and we look forward to sharing the full details of the service soon.
Company spokespeople have not been allowed to comment on anything in regards to the rumors or findings. However, now that we have seen some information, we can't wait for more. Like I've said on our show, it's always good for competition to exist, especially in this space. We're likely to see some of these details change but at least we now have a starting point.
Are you excited for another competitor to enter the video-streaming ring? Or have you already picked your favorite dog in the fight? We want to know in the comments below.
