Redbox Instant by Verizon will launch the beta of its streaming service on the Xbox 360, as the company that put tall red kiosks of DVDs in your neighborhood supermarket joins the streaming-video battle currently being waged by Amazon and Netflix.
Redbox Instant will launch on the console in the very near future, according to a post by Microsoft’s Major Nelson, and beta participants will within days receive unique codes via e-mail to access the app in the Xbox Marketplace. The Xbox will be the first console to carry the new streaming service.
Redbox Instant is entering a tough market with a service that, at launch, will lag behind Amazon and Netflix. Both companies are focusing on original content as an incentive to lure viewers and keep current subscribers from jumping ship. Redbox’s “killer feature,” on the other hand, is that it also lets you rent four DVDs from one of its kiosks at no extra charge.
The streaming service will launch with Warner Bros., Sony and Epix (who partners with Paramount Pictures, Lionsgate and MGM) titles. An impressive list, but the service will launch with fewer titles than Netflix. And while the Xbox 360 news is exciting for both Redbox and Microsoft, the streaming company plans on being on as many devices as possible according to a tweet from the service’s Twitter account:
Redbox Instant is currently available on iOS and Android tablets and smartphones, Samsung Blu-ray players and TVs with SmartHub. Redbox will be out of beta and available for everyone sometime in 2013.
