Redbox Expands In Canada
Redbox kiosks have now been placed in more retailers in Canada.
These kiosks, which are either located in a retailer or outdoors near the retailer’s entrance, offer movie rentals in both DVD and Blu-Ray. But unlike the Zip kiosks, they take reservations online and offer game rentals for Xbox 360, Wii and Playstation 3.
Though more expensive than Zip for DVD rentals at $1.50/day, Redbox also offers Blu-Ray rentals at $2/day so I will probably rent my Blu-rays from them when they decide to expand to my local grocery store or Walmart. The Zip kiosk location I currently rent from is some distance from my home.
Zip Kiosks Leave Nova Scotia
I have just found out that Zip had removed their movie rental kiosks from Nova Scotia a few weeks ago. But Redbox is slowly expanding to Walmart Superstores, Shoppers Drug Mart pharmacies and Loblaws brand grocery stores through-out Canada so Nova Scotia residents could regain access to a movie rental kiosk service next year.
Rogers Video Ends Renting Services
Rogers Video stores across Canada will no longer rent DVDs or Blu-ray discs tomorrow.
Starting this week this chain will offload their film stock at reduced prices leaving Canadian consumers with very limited options in regards to renting films.
Cable and satellite subscribers will continue being able to rent films on their digital boxes and Canadians with access to high speed connections have access to online film rental services like Cineplex, Cinemanow, iTunes, Netflix and Youtube. But it appears the mail services and kiosks are now the only viable options for people who do not have access to cable, satellite and high speed internet services.
Unfortunately the kiosk services offered by Zip and Best Buy are limited to major cities at the moment, though they will probably expand in response to the demand. And the cable, satellite and high speed internet options remain expensive.
The current rental fee for recent high definition releases on my digital cable service is $7.99. And if I were to rent these films online in 720p I would use an average of about 4 gigabytes worth of usage per film towards my usage limit.
I am hoping that the digital cable rental fee will be reduced in response to public demand. But at the moment I am also testing out The Movie Network and Moviepix as a cheaper alternative, though releases on The Movie Network still appear to be subjected to a considerable delay.
As it stands I appear to prefer Moviepix for the channel’s selection of classic films and will likely subscribe to this service until Bell’s Fibe TV service is introduced to my neighbourhood.
I will probably dabble in online film rentals, within strict limitations, and use Zip.ca‘s services as my main source for newer releases.
As previously reported on this blog, Zip will be expanding their kiosks. And I believe theater companies like Cineplex, Empire and AMC will eventually offer kiosk services in their locations in respond to the demand left by Roger Video‘s departure.
I am also hoping for a national expansion of the Best Buy branded kiosks to Best Buy and Mac’s locations through-out Canada.
Zip To Expand Movie Rental Kiosks
Online movie rental retailer Zip.ca will partner with Metro Inc. to bring their movie rental kiosks to over 800 Metro grocery stores though-out Canada.
These red kiosks, which rented DVDs for $1 and blu-ray disc for $2, were successfully tested in Ottawa and Montreal Metro stores. And the company is hoping to gain more customers from Blockbuster Canada‘s extensive membership.
Zip is also currently offering internet movie rentals on Samsung brand devices.