It seems that Redbox is finding ways around the movie studios cutting them off from the latest releases, but it is leading to shortages of the hottest titles for the company.

DVD kiosk supplier Redbox has been in legal fight with movie studios over release dates for some time now due to the studios saying that the $1-per-night rentals offered by the Coinstar-owned company are damaging the industry. A study has even been releases saying that Redbox could be responsible for as much as $1 billion in lost revenue to the Los Angeles area entertainment industry. This has led to the studios saying Redbox could not have the newest releases for 30 days after their initial releases, and even telling other retailers they could not sell the kiosk vendor more than three copies of any new title so that all sources for the films were cut off.

Well, somehow, Redbox has found a way to purchase at least some copies of the movies, but not in quantities to satisfy demand of consumers. According to a new report published by Video Business, Merriman Curhan Ford analyst Eric Wold surveyed more than 100 kiosks in 30 U.S. markets the week of Dec. 13, and while he found that over 85 percent of them had copies of the new releases of The Hangover and Inglourious Basterds through out the week, but by Friday only 11 percent and 4 percent of the kiosks had them respectively.

“We know that copy depth on workaround titles is going to be lower than for titles [Redbox gets] through distribution agreements,” Wold said in an e-mail to Video Business. “But in my discussions with Coinstar, they stress their workarounds are centered around getting as many copies in as many kiosks by Friday night.”

The studios lining up against Redbox are Warner Home Video, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment and Universal Studios Home Video, while Paramount Home Entertainment, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment are continuing to allow them to have movies on street dates.

Source | Tech Blorge