Content area
Full Text
The kiosk vendor's late entry into the digital space never gained traction with consumers or Wall Street
DIGITAL Hollywood's crush to embrace digital distribution lost a partner last week.
Redbox Instant, the digital sales and rental joint venture between Verizon and Redbox, ceased operations Oct. 7, according to an announcement on its website: "Thank you for being a part of Redbox Instant by Verizon. Information on applicable refunds will be emailed to current customers and posted here. We apologize for any inconvenience and we thank you for the opportunity to entertain you."
The breakup could spread abroad. Across the Atlantic, the new CEO of Britain's largest supermarket chain, Tesco, indicated he planned to put the Blinkbox digital subsidiary up for sale or close its doors. The news was noteworthy as Blinkbox is expected to lead the rollout of UltraViolet in the United Kingdom. The platform earlier this year was the only one granted exclusive access by HBO to the most-recent season of "Game of Thrones" shortly after its U.S. broadcast.
First unveiled in 2011, but only launched last year, Redbox Instant attempted to take on Netflix and other SVOD services by melding...