After months of testing, video rental company Redbox launched its streaming video service. Redbox on Demand extends the company’s kiosk rental business model to the streaming world.
“Redbox’s stronghold on new releases has played a big factor in our ongoing relevance to consumers who crave the latest content,” Redbox Chief Marketing and Customer Experience Officer Ash Eldifrawi said in the press release.
How Redbox Used Roku Private Channels
Flixed highlighted the way Redbox used Roku’s private channel feature during its pre-beta testing. Any Roku user could install that channel and watch trailers for movies in Redbox’s library. A select group of Redbox customers, however, were given access to the new streaming capabilities.
This is the strength of Roku’s private channels – and the reason Roku created them in the first place. Private channels let developers test their apps in a less prominent setting than Roku’s formal channel store.
With data obtained through private channels, developers are able test their app with a much wider audience than they normally could while still limiting access.
Public Rollout
Redbox on Demand is now in public beta. Roku owners can find the Redbox app in the Roku channel store. Other platforms supporting Redbox on Demand include Android, iOS, Apple TV, Chromecast and several smart TV platforms.
Redbox also lets you rent content on its website but requires the Microsoft Silverlight plug-in, which fewer and fewer modern browsers support.
The pay-as-you go service lets you rent movies starting at $3.99. TV shows, as on other streaming services, must be purchased at price similar to DVD or Blu-ray prices. You can download rented or purchased content for offline viewing through Redbox apps.
Chris Casper is a former tech industry product manager who escaped from California for New Mexico. Now he writes about science and tech while searching for the perfect green chile sauce.
