Redbox, Blockbuster Oppose Warner Bros. Plan to Delay New DVD Rentals for Eight Weeks

NEW YORK - DVD rental kiosk operator Redbox and Dish Network-owned Blockbuster are resisting a push by Time Warner's Warner Bros. to double the delay on DVD rentals to 56 days, Bloomberg News reported.

our editor recommends

Video Rental Stores' Bizarre Survival Strategy

Year of the Turnaround: Home Entertainment Posts Gains as Netflix Fumbles

In an effort to support DVD sales, the studio is looking to make rental firms wait 56 instead of 28 days after a DVD goes on sale before they can offer the latest releases.

Netflix is going along with the new plan, with Bloomberg citing an analyst as saying that the online streaming provider's business model won't be hurt. “As a company that’s really not focused on new releases, Netflix doesn’t really care about a move from 28 days to 56,” said Eric Wold, an analyst at B. Riley & Co. “For the other companies, new releases really dominate their rentals, so that kind of delay would really hurt them.”

Blockbuster stores are buying Warner movies from others the day they go on sale, so they can rent them out right away, a source told Bloomberg.

Redbox owner Coinstar, whose current 28-day delay deal with Warner Bros. expires at the end of the month, hasn’t agreed to a longer waiting period and has signaled it could also find alternatives, according to Bloomberg.

“The current agreement Coinstar has with Warner Bros. is to receive movie titles 28 days after their release,” a Coinstar spokeswoman said. “No revised agreements are in place.”

A Warner Bros. spokesman had no comment on the state of talks with Blockbuster and Redbox.

Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com

Twitter: @georgszalai