Meet the King David to Blockbuster's Goliath.
MovieCube, aka the Canadian RedBox, has popped up in Loblaw stores across Canada. (Note Blockbuster's knee-jerk response to make 7000 of these machines in 2010.)
The movies are relatively current, and you pay $1/day for a DVD rental with your credit card, or with the tears of a film industry executive.
While much has been written about the consequences for the beleaguered film industry in the states, there hasn't been much coverage up in Canada. People are too busy acting like the Toronto International Film Festival makes them personally important to realize that this is the sort of machine that will lead to fewer of those coveted distribution deals at the festival.
Some studios have boycotted these machines for fear of ending up like the music industry (see: 1999-2007). This policy has led to antitrust litigation in the land of our fair but litigious neighbo(u)rs. Some studios have made deals with the kiosk/movie rental company -- if you can't beat'em, you might as well join'em... and it's going to be hard to beat an offering of current movies for $1/day against the aggravation of wandering aimlessly through Blockbuster until you find the movie you want, but can only get a rain check for because someone else got there first, so you end up paying $4-5 for your second choice. (Note, the kiosks can also run out of your first choice)
Of course, even the kiosks still have to compete with hulu or surfthechannel or any host of sites or programs that offer the movies for free.
What's the bottom line? Chains like Blockbuster take it on the chin. Mom-and-Pop video rentals adapt to offer a more eclectic selection of films not available in the kiosks. Kiosk companies increase their stature until disc-technology is obsolete and everything is OnDemand.
In Canada, is Loblaw the right channel for distribution? Is it going in Walmarts and McDonald's's and Indigo/Chapters... and gasp... Starbucks?
Rating: Hold
Justification: Can it compete against free content?
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