RIP: Redbox

[thewayne]

Redbox is going away.

Formerly unbeknownst to me, its owner is the corp Chicken Soup For The Soul Entertainment. This has been in the news recently, and I've been following it. They've fallen massively behind in royalty payments to people like NBC, etc. and finally they filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy, i.e. reorganization.

It didn't go well.

The judge signed off on a petition by Chicken Soup's creditors to force them into Chapter 7 bankruptcy, liquidation.

So all of those kiosks at Walgreens and gas stations and etc. will be going away, not to mention a lot of jobs will be lost of those servicing those machines and stocking them.

While it's easy to say 'What's the market for DVD rental?', as a librarian I'll say that there's a very brisk trade in borrowing DVDs from libraries for free. LOTS of people don't have home internet connections for streaming, and rely on services like this for new content. It's kind of a shame to see it go away as it definitely fills a need in communities, but I guess they just couldn't keep it profitable.

The story is not obvious, though. Chicken Soup's CEO has been in the role for TWO WEEKS, and just resigned, 'for unrelated reasons'. Cue rats leaving sinking ship.

From the article: “There is no means to continue to pay employees, pay any bills, otherwise finance this case. It is hopelessly insolvent,” United States bankruptcy judge Thomas Horan determined during a hearing Wednesday, adding: “Given the fact that there may also be at least the possibility of misappropriation of funds that were held in trust for employees, there is more than ample reason why this case should be converted [from Chapter 11 to Chapter 7]. So I am going to grant the motion.” (edit mine)

The article goes on to describe them being unable to pay the fleet company they get their cars from, unable to pay the stores from whom they lease space for their kiosks, and the misappropriation bit about them continuing to withhold 401(k) and health insurance premiums from employee checks but not paying them to the appropriate funds.

So Redbox will be liquidated, and we'll see if some attorneys general start criminal investigations.

https://www.lowpass.cc/p/redbox-shutting-down

Comments

[silveradept]

There's still a very brisk trade in DVDs for us, because the Blu-Ray player has yet to actually become the $20 thing you can get at Wal-Mart, and the price of a Blu-Ray is not in the $3 bin of movies. It'll happen eventually, sure, but not for a very long time. And that assumes that everyone isn't trying to avoid physical media releases so they can engage in rent-seeking forever, and continue to refuse to let libraries access their catalogs. It very well may get to the point where the only way for libraries to offer video and audio media is to pirate it and offer it that way. Unfortunately, if the Internet Archive can't even lend things they own, in a controlled digital lending scheme, because of greed, then there's probably no way that we can set up our own distribution of material for all the people who can't afford the rents.

As for Redbox, this seems like sufficient gross mismanagement is alleged that the fortune of the person doing the mismanagement should be available to make reparations if the allegations are proven. But it will be bad to see the redboxes go.

[thewayne]

I did find BR players as low as $42 at our local(ish) Best Buy, they were open box.  Refurbs were going for $72.  Prices have certainly come down, but as you say, you don't see a lot of BR discs in the discount bins.

[silveradept]

Not really, and part of that, I suspect, is because Blu-Ray players need updates to their DRM systems to keep being able to play discs. Old players aren't functional when they stop being updated, and there's nobody out there with a generic firmware or system you cam install on a stand alone player to keep it going. DVDs always work. Blu-Ray needs updates. That's also not going to be a helpful thing for most people who don't have a lot of money to spend.