Redbox Instant Coming To Roku This Summer

Redbox Instant is a new movie service looking to follow in Netflix's footsteps. Still officially in beta, Redbox Instant combines DVD rentals at Redbox kiosks with streaming movies. The service recently launched on Google TV and announced that they will be coming to Roku later this summer.

 
After a 1-month free trial, Redbox Instant's subscription price of $8 per month gives you 4 DVD credits per month (for 4 nights total) plus unlimited streaming similar to Netflix.  For $1 extra ($9 per month), the subscription includes access to Blu-ray disc rentals.

Amazon Instant's streaming video library continues to grow steadily as they seek to become a serious competitor to Netflix, but in my opinion, Redbox Instant has a lot to overcome.  I like the idea of monthly DVD/Blu-ray credits, which gives access to discs at a Redbox kiosk versus waiting for Netflix to deliver a disc in the mail.  However, the number of titles available in Redbox kiosks is a fraction of what Netflix has available to mail.  I can only imagine that the streaming selection is also much smaller than Netflix's library, similar to how Amazon Prime Instant Video began.

I have not tried Redbox Instant yet, but will do so once the Roku channel is available.  I believe competition is a great thing, and while Redbox Instant has a long uphill climb, best of luck to them and I look forward to testing out the service once they make it available to the 5-million+ Roku owners.