News

Redbox to remove 500 DVD kiosks

May 30, 2014

Redbox is to remove over 500 DVD rental kiosks in the U.S. during 2014, The Wall Street Journal reports.

According to The Journal, Redbox, which is owned by Outerwall, installed more than 40,000 DVD rental kiosks in grocery stores, 7-Elevens and Walmarts in the last seven years. However, the newspaper says that Redbox only installed 300 new DVD kiosks in 2013.

“This year [Redbox] is uninstalling kiosks — more than 500 of them in the U.S.,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

Canada is the only other market that Redbox operates in apart from the U.S.

In the first quarter of 2014 ending March 31, Redbox’s revenues increased by just 1.5 percent, to $515.7 million from $507.9 million in the first quarter of 2013. 

The paper said that Redbox’s revenues have been stagnating after years of double-digit growth, partly because there are no more good locations for DVD rental kiosks and because it faces growing competition from online streaming services such as Netflix and from more original TV programs.