The DVD kiosk company, Redbox, and Verizon reported on Monday that they will be teaming up on a streaming video joint venture, which would put Netflix in their crossfire. The companies announced that the partnership will launch during the second half of the year. Verizon and Redbox services will offer “subscription services and more,” and these services will be available on platforms, which include televisions, smartphones, and tablets.
Verizon will own 65 percent of the partnership and Coinstar, the parent company to Redbox, will own 35 percent. The video streaming service will influence content provider relationships that Verizon assembled through its VCast streaming video business for mobile devices, as well as its large cloud computing infrastructure. Streaming video options will be supplemented from Redbox’s 28,000 kiosks around the country. In their partnership announcement, the companies said, “By offering instantly available online and mobile content with immediate access to physical media through rental kiosks, Verizon and Redbox will be uniquely positioned to deliver the best of both worlds — digital and physical.” The services will not be limited to Verizon customers, they will be offered to everyone.
