Verizon, Redbox challenge Netflix with streaming video service

影视帝国 tomove.com.cnMAP Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) and Coinstar-owned video rental service Redbox are teaming for a new multi-platform subscription service enabling consumers to access streaming entertainment via mobile devices and the web. The service additionally will offer immediate access to physical media via Redbox rental kiosks. Verizon and Redbox offered few concrete details about the video-on-demand service, slated to launch in the second quarter of 2012, but said additional brand and product information will become available in the coming months. In a statement, the companies promised "subscription services and more," with an emphasis on consumer choice in relation to both media format and device options. Verizon said it will leverage its relationships with entertainment content providers, its cloud computing technologies and its IP network infrastructure to distribute content to its customers. Verizon will hold a 65 percent ownership stake in the joint venture, with Redbox controlling the remaining 35 percent. Redbox offers more than 35,000 DVD, Blu-ray and videogame rental kiosks across 29,000 locations nationwide, including select McDonald's restaurants, Walmart locations and Walgreens stores. Consumers have rented more than 1.5 billion discs using Redbox kiosks. Verizon currently offers Internet-based streaming services under its FiOS brand; the telecom giant's Verizon Wireless subsidiary also offers Verizon Video, which touts unlimited on-demand access to full-length television episodes, live sports and local news coverage. Verizon did not disclose which existing media partners have agreed to make their video content available for the new streaming service. Hudson Square Research analyst Daniel Ernst told Reuters that Verizon and Redbox must make significant investments in the venture to offer services comparable to streaming video market leader Netflix. "The question is, how much are they investing to get a large library of programming? Netflix is spending up to $1 billion a year on content," Ernst said. "For me it's doubtful that these two companies will invest to that level." Fifty percent of tablet owners view both feature-length films and television series on their device according to data issued in mid-2011 by research firm In-Stat. The research firm adds that tablets and smartphones are not only emerging as screens for video consumption but also enabling video-centric social networking and personal interactions: Almost 50 percent of smartphone/tablet owners between the ages of 18 and 24 frequently turn to social networks to discuss the TV programming they're currently viewing.