Inside Blockbuster Express

Use code GW11B2 for a Rent 1 Get 1 free rental from Blockbuster Express – Valid until 1/19/2010. Check out the complete list at http://insideblockbusterexpress.com/promo-codes.

One of the hottest selling items this Christmas is the Blu-Ray player. A significant number of the big sales at discount stores and electronic houses were trying to get blu-ray players under $200 or even under $100! Walmart had 5 blu-ray players in its Black Friday ads this year. One of those, the Magnavox Blu-Ray DVD Player, NB500MG1F was an astounding $78! Even one of my favorites, the Samsung BD-P1590 Blu-Ray Disc Player which supports Netflix and Pandora streaming is only $99.99 at TigerDirect.

With this push to get players into the households, will we see an upswing in Blu-Ray discs? I’m not sure it’ll really jump because of that. I’m finding that in my own household, what is holding me back is the rental kiosks not stocking Blu-Ray.
[Read the rest of this entry...]

Collecting together the latest promo codes for free rentals at Blockbuster Express.

You can use these codes once per credit card. After that it won’t let you continue to use it. But if you are like me and have a pocket full then you can pick up a few different movies with each code.

Those the codes have dates with them, experience has shown that they do not always stop at the date specified. So let me know if the codes work for you!

Free Rental with code G29TA1 – Valid until 12/17/2009
Free Rental with code GT11A – Valid until 1/31/2010
Free Rental with code KIOSK – Valid until 2/10/2010
Rent 1 Get 1 for free with code GW9TB2 – Expires 12/15/2009

In a press release today, NCR announced the acquisition of DVDPlay. According to the release, NCR will work with its retailers to convert those kiosks to their Blockbuster Express branded kiosks starting in early 2010.

DVDPlay was the first to market with a DVD rental kiosk back in 1999. Their kiosks were initially used by McDonalds to roll out Redbox. Shortly thereafter, Redbox created their own design and began to have those manufactured by another provider. In October of 2008, DVDPlay received a patent for their kiosk design and promptly sued Redbox for patent infringement claiming that Redbox had infringed on that patent. Redbox immediately countersued saying that DVDPlay was infringing on one of their patents. Both cases were dropped in late February 2009.

DVDPlay currently has 1,300 kiosks deployed across California, Colorado, Illinois, and Texas. Though Blockbuster Express expected to have significantly more kiosks by the end of 2009, this does leave them at 3,800 kiosks owned and operated under the two brand identities.

See the full press release from NCR.

I have long wondered if Blockbuster will bring Blockbuster Express Kiosks into their stores. I actually created this draft for a story July 3rd of 2009 but didn’t really have any content. But with the rollout this week of the SD downloadable kiosks, Blockbuster Express in a Blockbuster store is exactly what seems to be happening.

As Blockbuster closes stores rapidly, they are actually turning their efforts back to their kiosks to keep the company alive. Primarily the DVD kiosks are finding themselves in places where people frequent on a regular basis other than a video rental store; grocery stores, convenience stores, dollar stores (which are seeing a huge climb this year due to the economic situation), and even fast food restaurants. People have to make a specific trip to go to a Blockbuster location both for rental and return. It is very common for there to be a Blockbuster Express kiosk in a store within the same complex where a brick-and-mortar store is. It seems like 30% of all the Publix stores out there where kiosks are have a Blockbuster in the same parking lot!

But if you are like me, [Read the rest of this entry...]

NCR Corp. is pilot testing a new model of its Blockbuster Express-branded movie-rental kiosks that allow patrons to download a movie to a secure digital (SD) memory card.

No details have been given yet about what devices the video can be played back on. Samsung and others have announced or released TV sets that have SD card slots which presumably would play the content. Several Inside BlockBuster Express members have emailed or posted wondering whether the content will play on their portable devices. At this point, I haven’t had anyone run into one of these kiosks to determine that answer. If you know of one and can test, please let us know!

The announcement says that the pilot test machines operated by NCR in conjunction with MOD Systems are located in select Blockbuster locations and other retail stores.

NCR has said before that it strongly believes in the digital download model. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Alex Camara, who left Redbox parent company Coinstar and joined NCR in June 2009 as the VP and General Manager of the Entertainment division, knows the DVD kiosk industry well.

He sat down with Danny King over at Video Business for an interview. You can find the full text at Video Business Online.

In the interview he tries to distinguish how Blockbuster Express is and will be different from Redbox. By having double the capacity and by working on a future with digital downloads they hope to differentiate themselves.

He also states his understanding that consumers expect them to provide new release movies on the release date but that they must work hand-in-hand with the studios to make that happen. He believes that the DVD Kiosk marketplace has not stolen from the home entertainment pie but has, in fact, grown it.

Check out the full interview at Video Business.

In an effort to keep up with where Apple has taken the iPhone model and Netflix is delivering streaming movies, Blockbuster has inked a deal with Motorola, Inc. that has Blockbuster integrating its OnDemand application with various models of cellphones and other handheld devices.

It has not been announced when the service will be available or on what devices it will be supported. But Blockbuster senior vice president of digital entertainment Kevin Lewis said, “The integration of our OnDemand service into Motorola’s mobile phones will provide access to thousands of movies from the moment someone initiates their service.”

Blockbuster’s OnDemand service, which charges rental fees of up to $3 per movie download or sells movies from $9.99 to $20, gives users on-screen search and browsing capabilities and additional content such as ratings and trailers. This is very similar to what Apple’s iTunes store does for users of the iPhone. Blockbuster’s senior vice president of digital entertainment Kevin Lewis also stated, “People are increasingly relying on their mobile phones to stay connected to the things they love the most, including their favorite movies and TV shows.”

Other details released say that the upcoming application will also be able to choose films for home delivery or reserve titles for in-store pickup. At the moment it doesn’t say anything to link it to Blockbuster Express kiosks.

Motorola is desperately trying to regain handset market share. Once the top dog in the market, it has lost that appeal to Apple and others who are designing more smartphones and mobile computer handsets. Motorola has also signed on to deliver Android phones. Perhaps the Blockbuster app is a part of that strategy.

But with the iPhone, its YouTube browser, and the iTunes and App stores so firmly entrenched, they will have a huge uphill battle. It would be easier for Blockbuster to enable an App on the iPhone which has the market share than to exclusively try to provide this service on Motorola handsets. And with the rumor that Netflix is polishing up its streaming player app for the iPhone for release, they better get cracking!

Just saw a tweet from KioskMarketplace.com that linked to an interesting article at Bloomberg.com. According to the article at Bloomberg.com today, Blockbuster CEO James Keyes said the movie-rental chain may be more aggressive in closing stores as it deploys as many as 10,000 Blockbuster Express rental kiosks by mid-2010.

Keyes blames the closings more on cash flow than on increasing sales. With huge payments due quickly and looming overhead, they need to build cash flow more than they need sales.

Read the full article at Bloomberg.com.

We are seeing kiosks rolling out to locations at a rate of almost 2 per hour now between Blockbuster Express and Redbox alone. But why are these kiosks all rolling out in an age where we are expecting digital downloads to dominate within such a short time? One analyst put it that we are rolling out hitching posts when cars are starting to roll out.

Maybe it is a difference from a price point. I know that my movie rentals from my Cable provider are at $2.99 compared to the $1 price point that Blockbuster Express has. And AppleTV rentals are $3.99 for new releases in SD and $4.99 in HD. At that price point even I will stop by a kiosk in a nearby store that I’m likely already headed to rather than digital download the movie.

Or is it a different demographic? [Read the rest of this entry...]