Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has reportedly signed a landmark deal with redbox, even as the DVD-rental kiosk company battles another major studio in court.
According to reports from Reuters and The Wall Street Journal, the multiyear distribution agreement will have Sony working directly with redbox to distribute its DVDs, direct-to-video movies and catalog titles. In return for the lower-than-wholesale prices Sony will charge, redbox has agreed not to sell used Sony DVDs.
The agreement indicates that movie studios' concern about bargain DVD rentals cannibalizing DVD sales may be waning. According to an article from Home Media Magazine, the Sony deal and redbox's growing number of installations, along with those of other, less dominant movie rental kiosks, underscore the mounting relevance of convenient and low-cost rental schemes in the face of the stalling digital-download trend.
