Verizon to set up streaming service with Redbox

February 06, 2012|Peter Svensson, AP Technology Writer

Challenging Netflix, phone company Verizon Communications Inc. says it will start a video streaming service later this year in cooperation with Redbox and its DVD rental kiosks.

Verizon and Coinstar Inc., Redbox’s parent, say the service will be national. It adds another leg to Verizon’s quest to become a force in home entertainment, and looks set to compete to some extent with the cable-TV services it already sells.

Verizon has its own cable-TV service, called FiOS, in some areas. Its Verizon Wireless subsidiary has also signed a deal to sell service from Comcast Corp. and other cable companies in its stores.

Cable companies like Comcast have shied away from offering video streaming services to people who don’t subscribe to their regular cable services, which have much higher monthly fees than those charged by Netflix.

Verizon and Coinstar didn’t reveal prices or other details of their service. It’s intended to give customers access to DVD and Blu-ray discs as well as streaming movies, they said.

New York-based Verizon Communications Inc. will own 65 percent of the unnamed venture, with Bellevue, Wash.,-based Coinstar Inc. owning the rest.

Netflix shares fell $3.07, or 2.4 percent, to $123.36 in premarket trading. Coinstar shares rose $3.29, or 6.6 percent, to $52.94. Verizon shares rose 2 cents to $37.86.