Redbox goes digital at home; Apple TV app release within the next 2 weeks

Redbox – best known in the U.S. for its DVD rental kiosks – is going digital with the launch Wednesday of Redbox on Demand, an online streaming service initially for Apple TV users using Airplay via their web browser or iOS device. A company spokesperson has confirmed to BESTAppleTV.com that its Apple TV app will be released in the next two weeks.

Unlike subscription services like Netflix and Amazon Prime TV, Redbox on Demand is the equivalent of its kiosks business but without the physical DVD box. Redbox On Demand offers many of the same new-release movies available at the kiosks, along with older movies and TV shows for rental or purchase.

Customers can buy or rent movies and TV shows online ranging in price from $4.99 for a 48-hour rental to $9.99 for purchases. Library content starts at $1.99.

More than 6,000 movie and TV show titles are available for rental or purchase on the new service from Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Lionsgate, Sony Pictures Entertainment, 20th Century Fox and Universal Pictures studios.

Technically, Redbox On Demand is still in beta, but this marks the broader launch of the streaming service that Redbox has been testing for over a year.

The company has confirmed the release of an Apple TV app is imminent. It is not known at this time if the Apple TV app will be a universal app with its iOS counterpart or a tvOS exclusive.

“Currently, consumers can use Airplay with Apple TV to watch rented or purchased content,” company spokeswoman Kate Brennan told BESTAppleTV.com. “An Apple TV app is launching in the coming weeks.”

In a company statement, Redbox played up the new service as “an à-la-carte solution with the instant gratification that today’s consumers also crave.”

The company said more than 35 million customers have downloaded the app and according to a recent Omnibus survey, nearly half (48 percent) of all Americans find out what’s new in home entertainment from Redbox.

Redbox’s goal isn’t to take on the big on-demand services like Apple’s iTunes, Netflix or Amazon Prime TV. Rather, the company said it wants to keep its kiosk customers in the family by offering them an at-home service.

“Redbox customers have asked, and today we’re delivering an On Demand option that offers them the best of both the physical and digital worlds,” said Galen Smith, CEO of Redbox. “Redbox provides our customers with choice – the value they want and expect from our kiosks, the instant gratification of On Demand rentals and purchases, and the availability of new-release content, all without monthly subscription fees.”

Redbox has around 42,000 kiosks in service, 45 million active email subscribers, 35 million app users and 27 million loyalty club members. In addition, the kiosk network delivers 350 million consumer impressions each week, according to the company.