Paramount and Redbox hopped in bed together to assure renters that the studio’s home video offerings will be in the rental kiosks the same day they go on sale. The move pits the studio squarely against Warner Bros., Universal and 20th Century Fox, all who have 28-day embargoes on companies renting out their stuff. [More]
rentals
Netflix Apologizes For Roku Disruption With Bill Credit
By 6.9.10
Savvily taking the proactive route rather than suffering customer backlash, Netflix is sending out emails with account-specific links that users can click on to save 5 percent off their next bill. [More]
Blu-Rays Coming To Redbox With Price Hike
By 6.8.10
Redbox is finally latching on to the Blu-ray bandwagon, announcing it’s months away from adding the pricier HD movies to its kiosks, but will be charging $1.50 a night rather than the standard buck it costs for DVDs. [More]
Are Pay-Per-View Hotel Movies Pointless In 2010?
By 5.12.10
LodgeNet provides pay-per-view movie services to hotels, and the company’s latest financial filing shows nearly a 10% drop in revenue in the first quarter of 2010 compared to the same period a year ago. (And that’s after a 19% drop in revenue from 2008 to 2009.) Travelers seem to be wising up to the high prices of hotel pay-per-view and are resorting to other ways to stay entertained. Now if only our laptops and smartphones could contain a mini-bar compartment. [More]
Postal Service's Saturday Cuts Will Hurt Netflix
By 3.31.10
Ethan Epstein of Slate’s The Big Money draws the natural conclusion that the USPS’s plans to stop Saturday service won’t work out so well for rent-by-mail companies such as Netflix. [More]
Blockbuster Doesn't Have Game I Want In Stock, Sends It To Me Instead
By 3.30.10
Blockbuster and other brick-and-mortal rental stores seemingly give you fewer reasons to patronize them all the time, but Christopher discovered a step in the positive direction by the company: He says if the store doesn’t have what you’re looking for, it will send it to you and let you keep it longer than a normal rental. [More]
Thrifty Charges You For Gas Even Though You Returned It Full
By 3.17.10
Manny returned a rental car full of gas to Thrifty, yet they still ended up charging him $12.67 to top it off. Even after several days of escalating, they have yet to refund him his cash. [More]
Walmart Closing Down Vudu's Porn Channel
By 2.24.10
To no one’s great surprise, Vudu has announced that now that it belongs to Walmart it will be shutting down the adult section. No more streaming HD porn from Vudu, everybody. Their announcement after the jump. [More]
The Greatest Craigslist Room Rental Ad Ever
By 2.18.10
Maximize your Craigslist profits by crafting copy that really stands out. Like this guy’s rental listing that begins, “$500 HOLY CRAP! IS THAT A ROOM FOR RENT ON MY CRAIGSLIST??!?!?!?” and continues, “Do you want to be homeless? Then you better come check this room for rent out. It has WALLS and a CEILING. BLOCKS THE F****** WIND AND RAIN FOOL!” [More]
Rent Out Your Household Items For Fun And Profit
By 1.28.10
What items do you keep around your house, but don’t use very often? A shovel? A laundry drying rack? A food processor? What if you could rent these items out to people in your area, and in turn rent seldom-used items from them for a few dollars? Rentalic.com is trying to make these exchanges happen nationwide. [More]
Largest Ever Single Residential Property Deal Collapses Under Debt Mountain
By 1.25.10
The company that paid the most ever for a single residential property in the US is giving up and giving the development back to its lenders, says the WSJ. [More]
YouTube To Rent Movies
By 1.21.10
Tomorrow, YouTube will start renting online movies at $4 for 48 hours. At launch, the selection will consist of five titles from the upcoming Sundance Film Festival, says the Associated Press, but Google hopes to get studios on board in the coming months. Studios will be able to set their own prices and rental periods, however, should they participate. [More]
Netflix CEO Explains Why They Made The 28-Day Delay Deal
By 1.19.10
Earlier this month, Netflix made a deal with Warner Bros. to delay new DVD releases for 28 days. Over at Hacking Netflix, the CEO of the company goes into some detail on why he approached Warner Bros. to begin with (it was his idea, not theirs), and why he thinks it will work out better for everyone except those customers who signed up expecting all new releases all the time. [More]
Should You Be Let Out Of Your Lease If Your Apartment May Plummet Into The Sea?
By 1.12.10
It’s nice to have an apartment on a cliff overlooking the ocean — until the cliff decides to stop existing. That’s what is happening to one apartment complex in Pacifica, CA. [More]
See What Your Zipcode Likes To Rent On Netflix
By 1.11.10
The NYT has taken some data released by Netflix (the top 50 rental titles for each zipcode) and made some interactive heat maps out of it. It’s weirdly fun. [More]
Is Blockbuster Sending Out Gimped Versions Of Some Blu-rays?
By 1.11.10
William claims Blockbuster sent him a not-so-special edition of The Hangover on Blu-ray that doesn’t let him access an unrated version of the movie. [More]
Redbox Customer Rents Blank Disk
By 1.8.10
Russ says he rented a movie from Redbox and ended up with a blank disc. He also says he can’t get an answer from Redbox on what to do next.
I rented three DVDs for my kids at a San Antonio, TX location, then drove back home with them to Austin. When I took one of them out of its case, I noticed that it was a just a blank CD-R. The previous renter had taken the I.D. label from the original DVD and messily placed it on the CD-R.
FedEx Office Charges $40 An Hour For Dirty Unheated Meeting Room
By 1.6.10
When you rent a meeting space, should it have heat? Chairs that are clean and not broken? We think so! Reader Mark does too. FedEx Office doesn’t. [More]
