Blockbuster Express kiosks added to Publix stores
PHYSICAL: Several hundred machines deployed in the southeast
By Danny King -- Video Business, 9/16/2009
SEPT. 16 | PHYSICAL: Blockbuster and kiosk-maker NCR have started installing their Blockbuster Express movie-rental kiosks at several hundred Publix Super Markets in the southeastern U.S.
Blockbuster plans to have 2,500 kiosks in operation by the end of the year.
Most of the approximately 1,000 Publix stores in Florida, Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina will have the machines, NCR said in a statement today. About 300 of the Blockbuster Express kiosks will replace kiosks with the TNR/MovieCube brand, which is owned by NCR.
"The initial feedback we have received from our customers is that they enjoy the wide selection of movies, ease of the transaction and the time-saving aspect of one-stop shopping," Publix spokeswoman Maria Brous said in the statement. "By partnering with NCR, we are offering our customers the convenience of DVD rentals as part of their traditional shopping experience."
NCR and Blockbuster, which began their kiosk-making partnership last year, are looking to cash in on the growing popularity of $1-a-night rental kiosks with plans to deploy about 2,500 Blockbuster Express kiosks by the end of the year and as many as 10,000 by the end of 2010.
Leading movie rental kiosk operator Redbox had about 18,000 machines in operation as of the end of the second quarter.
Last month, NCR and Blockbuster said it would place its kiosks in all 57 Big Y grocery stores in the U.S. northeast.
The low rental price offered at kiosks has been a sore point for some studios, which have imposed title restrictions, including delayed street dates, on the kiosk segment. Redbox has sued Universal Studios Home Entertainment, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment and Warner Home Video over their kiosk rental window of four weeks or more.
Other studios have signed deals with Redbox to give them guaranteed market share in the kiosks. On Aug. 25, Paramount Home Entertainment signed a trial deal with Redbox. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and Lionsgate already have agreements with the kiosk leader.
The restrictions Universal, Fox and Warner have placed on Redbox extend to the entire kiosk channel and so would also affect Blockbuster Express machines. Still, Blockbuster CEO Jim Keyes last month applauded Warner's decision to delay new release titles to kiosks because it helps the retailer's bricks-and-mortar rental business.
Rental kiosks helped fuel rental growth in the first half of the year. Consumer spending on kiosks was up more than 150% in the first quarter, according to Rentrak. NPD Group forecasts that kiosks will control 30% of the overall DVD/Blu-ray rental market next year.
NCR in April bought the majority stake in closely held TNR/MovieCube that it didn't already own for financial terms that weren't disclosed.
Blockbuster said yesterday that it would close as many as 960 stores by the end of next year as it looks to shutter unprofitable units and cut its debt. The company currently has about 7,100 stores, down from about 8,000 two years ago.
With reporting by Samantha Clark
