If you thought that Redbox Instant would have trouble competing against a streaming video behemoth like Netflix, you were right. The Verizon-backed service is telling customers that Instant will shut down just before midnight on October 7th, roughly a year and a half after it got off the ground. Should you be a customer, you'll get a notice about any relevant refunds on October 10th. The closure isn't entirely surprising -- Outerwall (Redbox's parent company) wasn't happy with Instant's subscriber numbers, and a credit card fraud incident prevented it from taking new customers for three months. Still, this isn't good news if you liked Redbox's unique hybrid of online and kiosk-based rentals.

[Thanks, Mike]