Redbox Instant Starts Private Beta

The private beta of Redbox Instant opened its doors today. For the first time, users can sign up for a one month free trial of the service before the official launch. The joint venture, between Coinstar and Verizon, aims to take some of the movie-streaming market away from popular services like Netflix and Amazon Prime.

Coinstar, which owns and operates the Redbox DVD boxes seen at gas stations and WalMarts across the country, has been working with Verizon to launch the on-demand service. It was previously rumored that the service would be fully available before the start of 2013, but with the rollout of the beta, it looks like we will have to wait a little longer for that.

One of the selling points for Redbox Instant is its price point. Coming in at slightly lower than Netflix, plans start at just $6 per month. For $8 per month, users also receive four DVD rentals, and for $9 Blu-Ray rentals are included. Netflix currently offers its streaming service at $8 per month.

While the price may be competitive, it’s going to be hard for Redbox Instant to make a significant dent against Netflix. Netflix has both the market share and the deals with the movie studios. CNET reports that Redbox will start with a significantly smaller collection. Catalog limitations will likely be the service’s biggest hurtle. Even Amazon Prime’s instant streaming service feels extremely sparse when compared to Netflix. However, Amazon has the added retail benefits baked in with its offerings.

As with any media service, it’s completely possible, and likely, that Redbox Instant will secure more content deals over time. If the services proves to be popular, and more importantly profitable, expect to see movie studios rushing to get their content online. Until that time, though, I wouldn’t expect Netflix to lose too much sleep over the situation.