Redbox purchased by ... what in the ... ?

[DT]

Redbox To Be Acquired By Crackle Parent Chicken Soup For The Soul Entertainment In All-Stock Deal Focused On Value End Of Streaming Market

In an all-stock deal struck designed for the current high-inflation economic environment facing streaming consumers, Crackle parent Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment is acquiring Redbox. The …

deadline.com

 

[Eric]

Thought you were going to say Elon Musk, would make sense as he likes to buy companies as they are on their way out.

 

[DT]

I didn't even realize the whole Chicken Soup for the Soul thing was more than just a book or two, it's a big consumer goods and media company, that also owns Crackle (which was owned by Sony for a while).

Almost sounds like they’re possibly pulling kiosks? Going streaming only? Lots of Jesus content? Weird.

 

[Clix Pix]

Huh! Years ago I tried the local Redbox kiosk at my local grocery store just to see how it worked and because they had a video on there that I wanted to see. Well, the stupid thing didn't work properly in my DVD player and I returned it to the store and Redbox (did eventually get a refund from Redbox) but that was the end of that for me.

I hadn't realized, either, that the Chicken Soup for the Soul thing is more than just the books.....did it morph into some sort of franchise? I've never heard of Crackle, either. Well, I am not the target audience, obviously, particularly since I don't buy the treacly message that the Chicken Soup for the Soul books were trying to sell...

 

[DT]

I've got to say, it's hard to beat an occasional rental from them, I constantly get promos for up to $1.25 off a BD rental so $0.79 for a night for first run / early release movies on blu-ray. They also allow to return to any box (i.e., not just the one you rented from) which used to be super convenient when there was a box at our Pubs 2 miles south (it made weekends returns very nice).

But we rent maybe 4 discs a year , so it's not like a major loss. To be honest, I sort of dislike BDs, they're slow, they have a ton of warnings, previews, etc., that are hard to skip, and of course, you're dealing with a return. I'm just cheap on occasion

 

[Herdfan]

Used to Redbox a lot. But I probably haven't had a disc in my player for a couple of years. Offspring has, but I haven't. Too easy to stream and with complimentary subs to HBOMax and ShoMax from DirecTV, most movies are available for "free". And since they download to my DVR, there are no streaming/internet issues.

 

[Joe]

I no longer even have a DVD player lol

If I want to see something I just rent it from one of the streaming services.

 

[Runs For Fun]

For some reason I read that as “Roblox” and I was even more confused.

 

[Hrafn]

I've got to say, it's hard to beat an occasional rental from them, I constantly get promos for up to $1.25 off a BD rental so $0.79 for a night for first run / early release movies on blu-ray. They also allow to return to any box (i.e., not just the one you rented from) which used to be super convenient when there was a box at our Pubs 2 miles south (it made weekends returns very nice).

But we rent maybe 4 discs a year , so it's not like a major loss. To be honest, I sort of dislike BDs, they're slow, they have a ton of warnings, previews, etc., that are hard to skip, and of course, you're dealing with a return. I'm just cheap on occasion

There was a time we used them regularly, but I think it's been a few years since we've tried now. Still get Netflix one disk at a time, in addition to streaming.