The New Release was a company that owned and operated

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

rental

kiosks Historically, a kiosk () was a small garden pavilion open on some or all sides common in Persia, the Indian subcontinent, and in the Ottoman Empire from the 13th century onward. Today, several examples of this type of kiosk still exist in an ...

. The company was based in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

and was part of privately held TNR Entertainment Corp. TNR was acquired by NCR in 2009. NCR had in 2008 partnered with Blockbuster to establish a channel for kiosk DVD rentals, and TNR's acquisition furthered this aim. NCR's DVD kiosks were purchased by Redbox in 2012 TNR was backed by an institutional investor group including Celerity Partners, LP of Los Angeles; Chapton Partners, LP, a Houston family partnership; Laminar Direct Capital, L.P., a member of the D. E. Shaw group of companies and MCG Capital, a leading specialized financial services company and financial advisor. Each of its interactive kiosks held up to 1,000 DVDs, including new releases and classic titles. To rent a movie, consumers swiped their credit card, make their selection and the machine then dispensed the movie(s). The charge per rental was $1 per day; and keeping a DVD more than 14 days was effectively the same as purchasing the DVD. The kiosks were located at grocery stores including

Albertson's Albertsons Companies, Inc. is an American grocery company founded and headquartered in Boise, Idaho. With 2,253 stores as of the third quarter of fiscal year 2020 and 270,000 employees as of fiscal year 2019, the company is the second-large ...

, Dillon’s, Kroger,

Publix Publix Super Markets, Inc., commonly known as Publix, is an employee-owned American supermarket chain headquartered in Lakeland, Florida. Founded in 1930 by George W. Jenkins, Publix is a private corporation that is wholly owned by present and ...

and others—and promotions included a “Movie Lover’s Survey,” “Movie For a Year” and a “First Movie Free.” The company also operated kiosks under the name "moviecube," a California company which it acquired.

History

Founded in 2002, The New Release focused primarily on the grocery channel. The first kiosks were installed in

, HEB locations, with later expansion into

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

, Kroger locations. Acquired by NCR in 2009, its kiosks eventually became the property of Redbox when Redbox acquired all of NCR's DVD rental kiosks in 2012.

Promotions

The New Release periodically created promotions to entice current consumers and attract new ones. The New Release held a “Movie Lover’s Survey,” where they gave away free movies to the first 500 respondents. The New Release gave away “Movie For a Year” to 45 customers throughout North America. In the past, The New Release produced a “First Movie Free” promotion in many of its locations nationwide.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:New Release Video rental services Retail companies established in 2002 Companies based in Houston NCR Corporation

History

Promotions

See also

References