Redbox Instant by Verizon Begins Charging Beta Users $7.99 Monthly
Redbox Instant by Verizon told beta testers Friday by email that it has begun charging credit cards $7.99 plus tax for monthly subscriptions following a one-month free trial. The email read: “You are a movie-watching machine!” although we had only streamed one movie. “From over here at Redbox Instant by Verizon,” it said, “it looks like you had the best free trial ever.” But having been hard-pressed to find a movie on the streaming list we really wanted to see during the month-long trial (CED Jan 16 p1), we disagreed.
Despite the subscription charge, the website still showed the service was in beta mode. Subscribers hoping for an A-grade list for free streamed movies and concerts as part of the monthly package -- which includes unlimited streaming of select titles and four free DVD rentals per month from kiosks -- were likely as disappointed as we were at the offerings. More attractive titles appear in the rental and buy section, but those incurred additional fees.
When subscribers clicked on the subscription tab, the first 15 titles included an unappetizing selection of unfamiliar titles including Unicorn City; Chely Wright: Wish Me Away; Arachnoquake; One Hour to Die; Apart; Bloody Bloody Bible Camp; Cheesecake Casserole; Zombie Undead; Ancient Alien Question; The World of Z; A Buddy Story; eCupid: Ghost Attack; Daddy Can’t Dance; and Alien from Area-51. The first movie in the list that we recognized as having been widely available recently in theaters was Robert Redford’s The Conspirator, some 207 titles into the list.
We performed a search using the keyword box that lets users search by title or actor. When we typed in Anne Hathaway, the first title to appear was Disney’s Alice in Wonderland, which was only available at Redbox kiosks. Six more titles with Anne Hathaway followed, including One Day, also at kiosks, and The Dark Knight Rises, which was only available as a rental for $4.99 in standard-definition, $5.99 for HD or for purchase for $16.99. Numerous other titles were part of the filtered results but included actor Jake Hathaway, a portrait of writer Anne Lamott and others unrelated to Anne Hathaway.
An email at 1:58 a.m. informed us of the credit card charge. Another came in at 10:30 a.m. announcing that our weekly entertainment was waiting. The highlighted title was The American President and the email promotion also showed recognizable “streaming faves” including Swordfish, City of Angels, No Strings Attached and Rango. The email also spotlighted new releases at kiosks including Paranormal Activity 4, Sinister, The Cold Light of Day and Frankenweenie. In between the listings for subscription and kiosk titles was a Samsung Smart TV ad, which led to a help page detailing how to use the service.
Meanwhile, we took up Netflix on its offer to “come back today and get another 1 month free” so we could compare services. After we gave our credit card number to launch the $7.99 monthly streaming subscription (we passed on the additional $7.99 for DVDs by mail), Netflix provided a questionnaire to help tailor suggestions to our taste. The form provided examples of thrillers, comedies, “inspiring” movies and more categories to steer users to the genres they enjoy. It also asked which devices we owned for streaming including game players, connected TVs and Blu-ray players, Roku, computers, tablets and smartphones. Although Netflix is available on Apple TV, that media player wasn’t on the list.
Based on our category selections, Netflix offered Good Will Hunting, Chariots of the Gods, Blue Valentine, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Crash, The Raven, Good Deeds, Iron Sky and Jeff Who Lives at Home. The list wasn’t perfect but more than half were appealing to us and ones we would watch. The site also used the opportunity to pitch Netflix’s original series House of Cards, along with other popular TV series including Downton Abbey, The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad. Netflix also featured categories with a lot of “A” list titles that fell under our “would watch” list.
Several years into Netflix’s streaming history and early on in Redbox Instant by Verizon, Netflix is leaps ahead in the subscription streaming video offerings at this point, we found. We discerned value in the $8 per month Netflix selection, which is aided by a useful filtering algorithm. Considering we didn’t rent physical discs from Redbox before the trial, and we can’t find a reasonable number of compelling streaming titles online, the $8 Redbox DVD/streaming package so far doesn’t seem worth the price.