Redbox has officially announced that they have seen about 1.5 billion DVD and Blu-ray disc rentals thus far. Redbox launched in 2004 and also rented out over 4 million video games.

Coinstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSTR) has announced that they will be investing in SoloHealth. SoloHealth is a healthcare technology company that deploys kiosks. The kiosks monitors weight management, blood pressure, body mass index, and vision screening. The investment details are unknown. “As a leader in automated retail, Coinstar is continually looking for kiosk concepts that are innovative and compelling,” stated Coinstar president and COO Gregg Kaplan. “We believe that SoloHealth will address the changing market dynamics in the healthcare space by bringing free health and wellness screening to individuals who may not have accessed it otherwise.”

In the United States, many of you will notice a big red box movie vending machine that allows you to rent a movie for a day at the price of $1.  Up until now, Hollywood studios were willing to provide Redbox whenever there were new releases.  However Redbox started selling the newly released DVDs for $7 on the open market after there were several rentals.  The studios did not like this idea at all.

Now News Corporation and Universal Pictures are withholding newly released DVDs from Redbox as part of a lawsuit.  Since studios are starting to withhold DVDs, Redbox is purchasing the DVDs themselves from Wal-Mart and other retail companies which is cutting into their own profits.

On the other hand, Sony Pictures has signed a 5 year deal for supplying DVDs to Redbox.  However Sony Pictures DVDs had to be destroyed after Redbox reached a certain rental limit for each DVD rather than reselling it.

This past Wednesday, Fox ordered that new release DVDs should not be given to Redbox until 30 days after they have been available for sale.  This policy will be effective starting October 27.  Fox said that the $1 rental price is “grossly undervaluing” their movies.

While Fox ordered a 30 day delay, Universal Pictures insisted on a 45 day delay policy.  Redbox refused this deal.  So Universal cut them off altogether.  Redbox sued Universal for cutting them off and claimed that antitrust laws were broken.  In Delaware, a federal judge is expected to make a ruling.

Redbox is not prohibited on renting out DVDs that they purchase themselves because of the first-sale legal doctrine law.  According to the doctrine:

“Notwithstanding the provisions of section 106 (3), the owner of a particular copy or phonorecord lawfully made under this title, or any person authorized by such owner, is entitled, without the authority of the copyright owner, to sell or otherwise dispose of the possession of that copy or phonorecord.”

Sony will be selling its movies to Redbox for $460 million over the next 5 years.  Considering that Redbox vending machines has 17,900 kiosks and plans to launch an additional 8,500, that price is a bargain for what they would have to spend in retail stores.  Redbox is owned by Coinstar.

[via The Associated Press]

You’ve seen the Redbox DVD rental vending machines in grocery stores and in several McDonald’s restaurants around the U.S. The company behind those machines has been acquired by Coinstar through a stock and cash deal.  Coinstar is a publicly traded company whose core product is a machine that takes all of your change, counts it and gives a certain amount of cash back after taking a commission.  Coinstar will be paying $10 million in cash and 1.5 million in shares of common stock to GetAMovie Inc., a McDonald’s affiliate.  Redbox will also buy the remaining interest from minority owners in GetAMovie for between $21.5 million and $25 million.  Coinstar will also be paying other investors in GetAMovie Inc.  The whole deal is estimated to be about $176 million.

Redbox has machines in about 12,000 locations of grocery stores, pharmacies, and McDonald’s restaurants.  The concept is that you rent movies from the machine for $1 per night.  Redbox filed for an IPO in May 2008, but decided not to move forward with it due to economic conditions.  To make matters worse, Universal Studios threatened to not provide movies to Redbox anymore if they continued to let them be rented for such a low price.  Redbox has about 35 million unique customers.

“Redbox has a very positive and cooperative relationship with Coinstar and we’re pleased with today’s announcement,” stated Gregg Kaplan, CEO of Redbox. “The growth of the self-service DVD rental market continues to be brisk, and the combination of $1 per night pricing and the extreme convenience offered by redbox continues to be enthusiastically embraced by consumers.”