Netflix shares drop as Verizon, Coinstar form joint venture

影视帝国 tomove.com.cnMAP With big rivals teaming up against it, Monday morning, Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX) shares started the day down 2.5 percent in pre-market trading. An as-yet-unnamed venture of Verizon Communications inc. (NYSE: VZ) and Redbox operator Coinstar Inc. (Nasdaq: CSTR) is planning to provide streaming video on-demand and DVD and Blu-Ray disc rentals, taking aim squarely at Netflix. Verizon, which provides telecom services throughout New England, and Bellevue, Wash.-based Coinstar announced the partnership Monday morning in a news release. The joint venture will be out with a product in the second half of this year, they said. According to the news release, the offering will “allow all consumers across the U.S. to enjoy the new and popular entertainment they want, whenever they choose, using the media and devices they prefer.” Few other details of the planned service were offered, but in a statement, Bob Mudge, president of Verizon consumer and mass business markets, in a statement cited Redbox’s “national rental kiosk footprint.” In addition, the forthcoming offering will “leverage Verizon's industry-wide relationships with entertainment content providers, its advanced cloud computing technologies and state-of-the-art IP network infrastructure,” the news release stated. Verizon owns 65 percent of the new venture; Redbox owns 35 percent.