NCR, the maker of Blockbuster’s Express rental kiosks has acquired small kiosk maker DVDPlay, allowing for an expansion into the west coast, most notably California.
Although the financials were not disclosed, DVDPlay operates 1300 kiosks, mainly in the grocery stores Safeway and Kroger. Before the acquisition, NCR had 2500 kiosks, a fraction of Redbox, which now has over 22,000 and is still expanding.
“The DVDPlay acquisition really expands our presence,” adds NCR Entertainment VP and general manager Alex Camara, via VB.
All the current DVDPlay kiosks will be replaced by Blockbuster Express kiosks, which have larger capacities and can be upgraded to include digital downloads.
The acquisition will mainly give Blockbuster express “a higher profile in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver and Chicago,” says Camara.
Result for: grocery stores
Blockbuster along with partner NCR, is expanding its Blockbuster Express DVD rental kiosks to Big Y grocery stores in the states of Connecticut and Massachusetts.
The kiosks should be in all 57 Big Y locations by September 3rd, says the companies.
NCR currently has over 400 Blockbuster Express machines, in Publix and other grocery stores. Just like rival Redbox, the Blockbuster kiosks rent DVDs for $1 USD a night.
Result for: grocery stores
The Performing Right Society (PRS) in the UK is literally looking and listening, anywhere and everywhere it can to find fresh new sources of license fees for “public performance” of music. It’s no secret that typical business premises like grocery stores, restaurants, clothing outlets and everything else must pay a yearly fee if they have the radio playing for their staff and customers.
Fresh from hunting down new businesses in towns and cities, the PRS is expanding to anywhere it can that technically is required to get a license. Rosemary Greenway is a perfect example. For over 20 years, she has played classical music for the animals at her stables because she believes it helps to keep them calm.
One day she received a telephone call from the Performing Right Society informing her that she must pay a £99 annual fee, as playing Classic FM at the stables where there are more than two on staff apparently constitutes a “performance”, regardless of the fact that the staff don’t really care for, or listen to the music at all.
Rosemary claims from observation that the music soothes the animals, making for better working conditions for all. The stables are also located next to the RAF Lyneham air base, so the music helps to drown out the excess noise. “You would have thought that playing music to your own horses was allowable but apparently not,” she said. “Especially on windy days I try to play it - it gives them a nice quiet atmosphere, you can only exercise one horse at a time so it helps the others to stay calm.”
