Warner Bros Renews Redbox Distribution Deal With 28-Day Delay
Redbox customers once again will have to wait about a month to see Warner Bros home video releases. Following a three-month period without a distribution deal, the kiosk company and studio said today that they’ve agreed to a two-year renewal of a previous arrangement that enables Redbox to rent Warner DVDs and Blu-ray discs 28 days after they’re released.
Since previous pact expired at the end of 2014, Redbox has acquired Warner Bros releases through
third parties — which meant it could rent the movies as soon as they were available. Redbox says that it often makes a bigger profit without a studio deal. For example, it does not have a distribution agreement with Disney.
Galen Smith, CFO of Redbox parent Outerwall, told analysts last month that the lack of an agreement with Warner “will help drive [profit] margin percentage up.”
Still, Redbox usually prefers to have agreements because they put less of its cash at risk when a title is a dud.
The new deal with Warner “allows us to continue to add value to our customers and content creators,” says Redbox President Mark Horak, who worked at Warner Bros Home Entertainment until he took charge of the kiosk company early last year. “Redbox remains committed to driving substantial industry revenue and providing consumers with affordable access to new-release movies.”
Redbox had 43,680 kiosks in 36,140 locations at the end of 2014.
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