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Verizon and Redbox have given up on their two-and-a-half-year-old joint venture, Redbox Instant, which provided instant video streaming for customers. Instead of finding success, the project never seemed to gain traction against Netflix and other established video-streaming competitors and is being shut down on Oct. 7.
The shutdown of Redbox Instant was announced by Redbox in a post on the Redbox Instant Website.
“Thank you for being a part of Redbox Instant by Verizon. Please be aware that the service will be shut down on Tuesday, October 7, 2014, at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time,” the notice explained. “Information on applicable refunds will be emailed to current customers and posted here on October 10. In the meantime, you may continue to stream movies and use your Redbox kiosk credits until Tuesday, October 7 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time. We apologize for any inconvenience and we thank you for the opportunity to entertain you.”
In a question and answer section on the Website, Redbox said that customers will automatically receive a full month’s refund for subscription fees that were paid after Sept. 8.
“The service is shutting down because it was not as successful as we hoped it would be,” according to the Web page.
Redbox Instant customers must use any disc rental credits that they have in their Redbox Instant accounts by Oct. 7 at 11:59 p.m. PT or they will be lost.
The company said it is still “exploring options” for customers who purchased electronic versions of on-demand movies, since they will lose access to them when the Redbox Instant service ends. “You’ll receive an email from us shortly, or you can check back here for an update in about two weeks,” the company said.
The Redbox Instant service was launched by Verizon and Redbox in February 2012 as a joint venture between Verizon Communications Inc. and Redbox Automated Retail, LLC. Officially called “Redbox Instant by Verizon,” the service was created to offer U.S. consumers streaming video as well as the ability to obtain actual DVD or Blu-ray movie discs through some 36,800 Redbox kiosk machines across the country. Consumers were able to use the service to watch movies and videos on a wide range of devices.