Blockbuster Plans To Expand Kiosk Availability In The South, Redbox Tests Higher Priced Daily Rentals

I guess anything to get back some market share is worth doing these days.

According to THR, Blockbuster Express will be installing DVD rental kiosks in 500 additional sites across the South, in stores currently operated by two convenience-store chains. This addition will bring the total number of sites with kiosks to about 7,000, nationwide.

While this may seem as though it’s a bit too little, far too late, this will definitely help the problem that Blockbuster is currently facing. Redbox has proved that a rental kiosk is a viable way to make money in the clogged world of DVD renting, which is just the thing the flailing company could really use at the moment. The idea of a rental kiosk that I can just go to while getting groceries is appealing, but until they have a better, or wider selection, I don’t see much use for it. I may not have any plans to use their service, but hey, if it helps them out, I guess it’s doing its job.

Speaking of that unholy red box of DVD renting, THR is also reporting that, confirming an announcement that the company made in an interview a while back, Redbox will indeed be testing newer, higher priced rentals, including the renting of video games. They began testing game rentals on Wednesday, and could be a next step for the ever growing company. They also kicked of testing rentals at the price of $1.50 in Albuquerque, NM, which is simply the next step for tests that actually began back in May in places like Modesto, CA and Miami, FL.

While the higher price rentals make absolutely no sense, the idea of renting video games, for cheap, could be a really interesting idea. First, you don’t have the vast variety of video games as you do for films. The smaller, more independent games primarily see a release through things like the XBOX Live Market or the Playstation Network, so the only need to rent a game would to pick up the bigger releases. Sure, the revolving door would be a bit of a problem, but as a person who doesn’t play a boat load of video games, this is exactly what I would use.

What do you think?

Source: THR