back to article Verizon punches RED button on Redbox Instant video-streaming service

Verizon will shut down its Netflix competitor Redbox Instant on Tuesday, a mere year and a half after the firm first launched the video-streaming service in the USA. It's set to shut down permanently in a little over 48 hours from now, Verizon told subscribers. Redbox Instant said in a post on its website: Information on …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    "The service had not been as successful as either partner hoped it would be."

    Translation : We couldn't extort enough money from Netflix as we hoped...

    1. joed

      Re: "The service had not been as successful as either partner hoped it would be."

      Actually the translation is: We can extort more money from Netlix so why bother with running a legitimate business in competitive marketplace.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Redbox kiosks too?

    Whenever I am at my grocery store, I see people at the Redbox kiosk getting movies...

    1. ukgnome

      Re: Redbox kiosks too?

      I doubt they would kill the kiosks, they are well used for movies and games - UK folk think lovefilm postal service but a vending machine instead of post.

      Hopefully someone like tesco in the UK will start a kiosk service, or maybe even redbox themselves. It's needed since the death of blockbuster.

  3. Ross K Silver badge

    I don't think anybody can compete against Netflix. As we've seen, it's easier to put the squeeze on their customers if you're in a dominant position. The credit card fraud thing probably didn't help either as it left them unable to sign up new customers.

    Last figures I saw showed Netflix accounted for 34% of North American internet traffic at peak hours. Amazon Video and Hulu had 1.7-1.8% each in comparison.

    1. Tom 13

      @ Ross K

      Is that 34% of ALL traffic or 34% of all STREAMING traffic?

      Granted I'm usually good for an hour each night, sometimes 3 or 4 on a day of the weekend.

      1. Ross K Silver badge

        Re: @ Ross K

        Is that 34% of ALL traffic or 34% of all STREAMING traffic?

        34% of ALL North American traffic at peak hours, with Youtube in second place.

        https://www.sandvine.com/downloads/general/global-internet-phenomena/2014/1h-2014-global-internet-phenomena-report.pdf

  4. O RLY

    Will the Redbox application be removed from the PS3 and PS4 menus?

    I didn't want it there in the first place because I didn't use it. Now that it's useless, I really don't want it there.

    1. Chris Beattie

      Re: Will the Redbox application be removed from the PS3 and PS4 menus?

      Too right! It was impossible to ignore, too. You got a mandatory giant icon in the menu if you didn't have Redbox Instant installed. You had to install the app just to get a normal-sized icon.

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