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LOS ANGELES -- They should just call it "Bluebox" and really have at it.
NCR Corp., which is expanding aggressively in the DVD rental kiosk business via a partnership with Blockbuster Inc., has acquired competitor DVDPlay in a bid to catch up with market leader Redbox Automated Retail.
NCR, which manufacturers self-service retail devices such as automated teller machines and grocery-store checkout devices, will put the Blockbuster brand name on its $1-a-night-DVD rental kiosks via a partnership with the struggling home video chain.
The Blockbuster kiosks will be painted blue, in contrast to the Redbox kiosks.
DVDPlay, currently the No. 3 competitor in the market, has about 1,500 kiosks deployed, including about 1,000 in Los Angeles. With the addition of its machines, NCR will have about 3,800 in the market by the end of the year. Redbox, by contrast, will have more than 22,000 around the country.
By 2010, NCR is aiming to have roughly 10,000 kiosks in stores.
"Without a doubt there's a new kid on the block," said NCR Vice President and General Manager Alex Camara. "We have an ambitious and strong strategy and we're really going after the competition."
Many DVDPlay kiosks are in Safeway grocery stores, giving NCR an immediate presence at one of the West Coast's biggest retailers.
NCR kiosks hold about 900 discs each, compared with 700 in those of Redbox. Camara said the higher capacity, along with digital signage on the kiosks, gives it an edge. However, the Blockbuster-branded kiosks don't yet offer online reservations, which Redbox does.
Unlike its bigger competitors, NCR is not n court with Universal Pictures, 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros., all of which have refused to sell new-release DVDs to kiosk operators unless they agree to more costly deals.
Like Redbox, NCR is stocking new releases from those studios by buying them at retail.
Camara said he was eager to strike deals to offer new releases from every studio and would be willing to consider charging more than $1 a night in certain cases to make it happen.
