Redbox Company

Redbox is hooking up with Verizon Communications Inc. as part of a major step forward to compete with Netflix Inc. in both the digital and physical worlds. The company famous for its ubiquitous red DVD rentals kiosks announced Monday that it would form a joint venture with telecom giant Verizon to create an online movie subscription service. Redbox also agreed to spend up to $100 million to acquire the Blockbuster-branded DVD kiosks operated by NCR Corp., its largest competitor in that business, adding about 9,000 machines to its existing base of 35,400.

Netflix won't have the online movie subscription business to itself for long. Two of the biggest players in DVD sales and rentals, kiosk company Redbox Automated Retail and online retailer Amazon.com Inc., have told Hollywood studios that they are looking to launch streaming movie services similar to the one offered by Netflix. Their interest comes in response to the rapid growth of Netflix over the last few years as many consumers are now paying a flat monthly fee to access thousands of movies, instead of paying separately for each film.