Roku has finally axed the Redbox app from its platform. Redbox parent company Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June and moved to Chapter 7 in July, signaling the liquidation of its assets. However, the app has remained available but not fully functional in various places, leaving customers wondering if they will still be able to access content they bought. This development, however, mostly squashes any remaining hope of salvaging those purchases.
Redbox is best known for its iconic red kiosks where people could rent movie and TV (and, until 2019, video game) discs. But in an effort to keep up with the digital age, Redbox launched a streaming service in December 2017. At the time, Redbox promised “many” of the same new releases available at its kiosks but also “a growing collection” of other movies and shows. The company claimed that its on-demand streaming service was competitive because it had “newest-release movies” that subscription streaming services didn’t have. The service offered streaming rentals as well as purchases.
But as Cord Cutters News pointed out this week, people can no longer open the using the Roku version of the Redbox app. When they try to use the app, they reportedly see a message reading: "Redbox is currently not supporting this app. For questions about the service on your account, please contact Redbox” and recommends other streaming apps, like Apple TV+.
Roku's move suggests that Redbox customers will not be able to watch the stuff they bought. Barring an unlikely change—like someone swooping in to buy and resurrect Redbox—it's likely that other avenues for accessing the Redbox app will also go away soon.
Interestingly, the Redbox app is still downloadable elsewhere. For example, I was able to download the app from the Apple App Store, Google Play Store, and PlayStation Store today. In the case of the former two, the app’s contents, including shows, wouldn’t load. On PlayStation, the app asked me to sign up for an account, which did not work due to an “error."
Looming questions
Ahead of Redbox's bankruptcy announcement, people noticed a decline in Redbox's services, including fewer kiosks and less promotion of new and upcoming titles.
Since Redbox filed for bankruptcy, though, there has been some confusion and minimal communication about what will happen to Redbox’s services. People online have asked if there’s any way to watch content they purchased to own and/or get reimbursed. Some have even reported being surprised after learning that Redbox, owned by Chicken Soup since 2022, was undergoing bankruptcy procedures, pointing to limited updates from Redbox, Chicken Soup, and/or the media.
There is also uncertainty about what will happen to the 24,000 remaining Redbox kiosks and their DVDs. As Chicken Soup filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, it’s expected that the kiosks will be taken down, but we don’t know when or how they'll be disposed of.
Last month, CVS filed a motion [PDF] asking the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (where Chicken Soup filed for bankruptcy) to allow it to “dispose of” thousands of Redbox kiosks. In its filing, CVS said that its contract with Redbox ended in 2023, at which point Redbox was obligated to remove “over 2,500 kiosks” from CVS stores, but many remained. The legal filing reads:
Throughout that time, [Redbox] has generally behaved as though the Kiosks were abandoned, although it did remove a very small number of them once it was threatened with a preliminary injunction in a state court lawsuit.
Redbox’s failure to remove the Kiosks has caused and continues to cause CVS substantial and unjustifiable economic harm, as well as damages for loss of use and enjoyment of its premises that are not readily financially compensable.
7-Eleven has also previously alleged [PDF] that Redbox failed to remove kiosks from its stores after their contract expired. 7-Eleven also claimed that Redbox owes it about $270,000 in commissions.
As Chicken Soup sorts through its debts and liquidation, customers are left without guidance about what to do with their rental DVDs or how they can access movies/shows they purchased. But when it comes to purchases made via streaming services, it’s more accurate to consider them rentals, despite them not being labeled as such and costing more than rentals with set time limits. As we’ve seen before, streaming companies can quickly yank away content that people feel that they paid to own, be it due to licensing disputes, mergers and acquisitions, or other business purposes. In this case, a company’s failure has resulted in people no longer being able to access stuff they already paid for and presumed they’d be able to access for the long haul.
For some, the reality of what it means to "own" a streaming purchase reality, combined with the unreliability and turbulent nature of today's streaming industry, has strengthened the appeal of physical media. Somewhat ironically, though, Redbox shuttering meant the end of one of the last mainstream places to access DVDs.
