Redbox Raises Kiosk Prices, Plans to Introduce Streaming By Year’s End

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Sound familiar?

DVD Rental service Redbox- the guys with the ubiquitous convenience store and drugstore red kiosks- is hiking prices on DVD rentals and calls the implementation of streaming service for the company a major focus. Yes, another big name is hopping onto the streaming dancefloor, seeking to reduce or eliminate the the need for physical media in rental transactions.

Official word from Redbox CEO Paul Davis is that the price hike from $1 to $1.20 is due to several factors related to the cost of doing business:

“This marks the first price increase for a Redbox standard-definition DVD rental in eight years. The change is primarily due to the increase in operating expenses, including the recent increase in debit card interchange fees as a result of the Durbin Amendment.”

Blu-ray discs will still go for a buck fifty a night and games for $2 through the kiosks. Davis confirms that DVD rentals have boomed among “disenfranchised” Netflix users, and says that implementing a streaming service by the end of the year is “a top priority for the [Redbox.]”