Signs Point to Verizon RedBox Streaming Service Getting the Axe Back in 2012 Verizon and RedBox proudly joined forces to launch the creatively-named Redbox Instant by Verizon, which was supposed to be a significant competitor for Netflix. This year however reports began to emerge that the service wasn't doing very well, and I've noticed that Verizon hasn't worked very hard to promote the partnership. Customer impressions of the streaming service, from what I've been able to glean, have also been rather poor.

Now Janko Roettgers points out that the writing may be on the wall for the service. Roettgers points out that the service closed the doors to new users because of a security violation three months ago (criminals were using the site's credit card tokenization process to verify stolen card numbers), and has yet to re-open. Existing users have had trouble as well, notes the report: quote: Redbox Instant, which is run as a joint venture between Redbox and Verizon, has also been preventing existing users from changing their payment information, leading to numerous complaints on the site’s Facebook page. Browsing through these complaints also reveals that this isn’t a temporary problem. One of the first posts mentioning the issue is from the end of June. In other words: Redbox hasn’t been able to acquire new users, or retain existing users with expiring credit cards, for all of the third quarter . Then four days ago, a Then four days ago, a rumor emerged on Reddit indicating that the service would be shut down for all users October 1 (aka tomorrow). When asked about this rumor, neither company has been willing to comment, suggesting there could be some truth to the possibility that the struggling service is about to get the axe. Like Roettgers, I know the Verizon PR folk pretty well after 14 years, and they're usually quick to demolish a rumor that has no basis in truth. As we've seen with other services of this type (most recently Comcast's Streampix), cable company-run Netflix competitors generally don't fare very well, because the cable company (in this case Verizon) isn't willing to offer a truly disruptive, high-quality and inexpensive over the top platform for fear of cannibalizing traditional TV revenues. In this case, it looks like the service wasn't able to survive the one-two punch of incompetence and apathy. Verizon still has ambitions on this front, however. In recent months the company has made it very clear they've got Verizon still has ambitions on this front, however. In recent months the company has made it very clear they've got another video platform launching next year that will include live television content and be aimed predominately at wireless users.







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Most recommended from 44 comments

smcallah

join:2004-08-05

Home 3 recommendations smcallah Member Great news! Great news for me! Now that RedBox Instant by Verizon app that I can't uninstall from my Verizon Android device will be even more useless and still as uninstallable! jjeffeory

jjeffeory

join:2002-12-04

Bullhead City, AZ 2 recommendations jjeffeory Member Sux! The service was pretty useless. Not anywhere near as good a Netflix. rradina

join:2000-08-08

Chesterfield, MO 2 recommendations rradina Member Verizon Streaming Service Perhaps Verizon killed this for other reasons. If successful, perhaps they couldn't bear the thought of paying interconnect fees to the cable boys.