Why does it cost me more $$$ to stream a movie from my tv than it did to rent one at Blockbuster?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does no one go to redbox? I love it. It's at my grocery store and I just pick one up every once in a while. They're like $1.75

I have never used it but I also don't have a DVD player

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fine - enough with Blockbuster. The apt comparison should we Redbox.

We tend to rent more from Redbox. If we pay full price, it is $1.86 for a night. Even less if we use a coupon or get a free movie (which they give out somewhat frequently).

I haven't streamed a movie yet from Redbox but would imagine it costs more to stream than to rent a physical DVD from their kiosk.

Maybe it partially has to do with streaming technology is still relatively new. The companies invested a lot of money into streaming technology so they have to recoup the cost somehow. Maybe we can think of it as service fee that is baked into the price of renting the movie?

5$ is a bit much don't you think?

[Anonymous]

Serious question - OP (or other Redbox devotees), do you not use Hulu, Netflix, Prime Video, etc for streaming? I bet some of the movies you want to watch are available as part of your existing subscription. Same with your cable provider (if you have one). My favorite search is for "free to me movies."

There are also websites that show you where something is streaming and lets you see how much it costs. For example, I submit to you Infinity War on a website called Just Watch:
https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/avengers-infinity-war

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Serious question - OP (or other Redbox devotees), do you not use Hulu, Netflix, Prime Video, etc for streaming? I bet some of the movies you want to watch are available as part of your existing subscription. Same with your cable provider (if you have one). My favorite search is for "free to me movies."

There are also websites that show you where something is streaming and lets you see how much it costs. For example, I submit to you Infinity War on a website called Just Watch:
https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/avengers-infinity-war

I use Redbox a few times a month. Redbox has brand new movies. Netflix gets movies that are a year + old. I do have Amazon and Netflix

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Serious question - OP (or other Redbox devotees), do you not use Hulu, Netflix, Prime Video, etc for streaming? I bet some of the movies you want to watch are available as part of your existing subscription. Same with your cable provider (if you have one). My favorite search is for "free to me movies."

There are also websites that show you where something is streaming and lets you see how much it costs. For example, I submit to you Infinity War on a website called Just Watch:
https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/avengers-infinity-war

We use Redbox. Sometimes, there are movies at Redbox that are not available for free on the streaming services. Off the top of my head, I thought of "The Mule". I just plugged it into that website. It isn't free yet on Hulu/Netflix/Prime Video. But I can pay a max of $1.86 to rent it from my closest Redbox. I reserve the movie on the Redbox app and walk to the closest Redbox. Not a big deal.

There were other newer releases that come to Redbox before the free streaming services.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Of course it costs more to stream, you're paying for the convenience. With blockbuster you had to drive there and then drive it back. And also possibly end up with a late return fee if you didn't return it on time. Streaming from home is way more convenient

Blockbuster and Erol’s would also charge you a fee if you didn’t rewind th VHS tape.

-Gen Xennial

[Anonymous]

$8 Netflix
$43 Hulu w/ Live TV
$10 Amazon Prime
$61/mo

All the movies and shows I could want are in those streaming services. I don’t have cable. Just internet and streaming svc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Serious question - OP (or other Redbox devotees), do you not use Hulu, Netflix, Prime Video, etc for streaming? I bet some of the movies you want to watch are available as part of your existing subscription. Same with your cable provider (if you have one). My favorite search is for "free to me movies."

There are also websites that show you where something is streaming and lets you see how much it costs. For example, I submit to you Infinity War on a website called Just Watch:
https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/avengers-infinity-war

We use Redbox. Sometimes, there are movies at Redbox that are not available for free on the streaming services. Off the top of my head, I thought of "The Mule". I just plugged it into that website. It isn't free yet on Hulu/Netflix/Prime Video. But I can pay a max of $1.86 to rent it from my closest Redbox. I reserve the movie on the Redbox app and walk to the closest Redbox. Not a big deal.

There were other newer releases that come to Redbox before the free streaming services.

They managed to find a way to rig it didn't they?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of course it costs more to stream, you're paying for the convenience. With blockbuster you had to drive there and then drive it back. And also possibly end up with a late return fee if you didn't return it on time. Streaming from home is way more convenient

Blockbuster and Erol’s would also charge you a fee if you didn’t rewind th VHS tape.

-Gen Xennial

I remember that.

[Anonymous]

I quit working at Blockbuster when I finished college (2005). At the time, it was about $4.50 plus tax to rent a movie. We used to use that as a selling point for our $15 movie pass. "For the price of three movies, you can have unlimited rentals all month!" It's part of the reason Redbox and Netflix was so successful. Redbox was a dollar and Netflix was $7.99 for movies in the mail. We couldn't compete. Even back then, cable still charged about $5 to rent a movie "on demand." This was back before everyone had high speed internet and before there was competition like Netflix and Amazon streaming. If you factor inflation and the competition between all of the streaming options these days, I think $5 is pretty reasonable. Even Redbox has doubled in price for their blurays since way back then.

[Anonymous]

Because they can?
I’ve basically never paid for a rental - because Verizon doesn’t need anymore of my money.
Don’t pay them for it and maybe they’ll lower the rates.

[Anonymous]

Convenience factor. If you use Redbox (which starts at $1.87/night), you have to drive there and back. Some people don't want to do that. I don't mind, so I use Redbox.

[Anonymous]

Most new movies are remakes of past movies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Prices aren't set based on what it costs to produce something, but based on how much people will pay for it. People will pay $5 to stream a movie, but they wouldn't pay $5 for a video rental. Companies charge what the market will bear.

This is the accurate answer.