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SALT LAKE CITY — After months of invitation-only testing, Redbox Instant launched this week as a direct competitor to Netflix.
Redbox Instant, a joint venture between Redbox's parent company, Coinstar, and Verizon, was announced in July and launched in December as an invitation-only service available on desktop, iOS and Android.
The new product is a competitor to Netflix, but has a lot of ground to cover before catching up to the streaming giant. Redbox offers 4,600 titles, compared to Netflix's reported 60,000.
TechCrunch points out that Netflix counts every episode of TV shows as an individual title, though, so a more accurate representation would be closer to 14,000, with 9,000 of those titles being movies.
Redbox's service is meant to focus more on newer Hollywood titles, which chief executive of the venture Shawn Strickland said are the types of movies that "really matter in the marketplace," according to the Associated Press.
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Some of Redbox's titles will not be available for instant streaming due to studio restrictions. Those titles will be available to rent or buy beginning at $.99.
The plan also offers four kiosk DVD rentals a month, which may appeal to those more interested in watching newly released titles than TV shows, which Redbox does not offer.
Unlimited streaming and four kiosk rentals costs $8 a month, compared to Netflix's unlimited streaming for $8 a month and unlimited DVD rental for $8 a month.
Redbox kiosks carry the top 200 recent movies from major studios and rent DVDs out for $1.20 per night. Blu-ray discs can be rented for $1.50 per night. The streaming plan offers movies from Warner Bros. and Epix, which is owned by Paramount Pictures, MGM and Lionsgate.
