The Redbox app is now supported by Samsung smart TVs, giving the erstwhile kiosk company with ambitious yet nascent free streaming goals a key distribution foothold with the No. 1 smart TV brand in North America.
The Redbox app is home to live-linear streaming service Redbox Free Live TV and AVOD platform Redbox On Demand. The app also has a rental/sale component, as well as a feature that lets users check availability and reserve titles at nearby Redbox DVD/Blu-ray kiosks.
Redbox, which has a kiosk user base of around 40 million U.S. consumers, is about to go public via SPAC and has plans to transition its customers--which it has identfied as late adopters--into ad-supported video streamers.
The Redbox app already had support on most of the other major connected TV platforms--notably, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV and LG webOS. The Samsung deal makes the Redbox app playable on the Korean CE company's smart TVs made after 2016.
"Customers turn to Redbox for great entertainment, and we're laser-focused on delivering the widest choice in entertainment on the platforms and devices they watch," said Chris Yates, general manager, Redbox On Demand. "Samsung has been a tremendous partner of Redbox since we launched our digital services, and we're thrilled we can bring our growing catalog of free content to Samsung Smart TV owners."
