Redbox filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy earlier this year, and the company has mostly stopped functioning. That includes access to digital purchases, not just the physical rental boxes.
Redbox users are reporting they can no longer access purchased or free movies on the streaming platform, and the app has been removed from Roku devices. This follows the news that Redbox’s parent company, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. That already resulted in the shutdown of all Redbox operations, including DVD rentals and streaming services.
It’s unclear what this means for customers who purchased movies through the Redbox streaming service, at least on Roku, as they are currently unable to access their content. The company has stated that DVDs will be sold off in the future, but the timeline for the removal of the iconic red kiosks remains unknown. Meanwhile, the fact that users are not being given access to content that they purchased (which should remain online or at least become available for a permanent download) is certainly not great. You can get a pass on free movies, but shutting down access to purchased ones that users paid real money for is an issue.
At the moment, the Redbox app seems to still be available on other platforms, such as Android phones and Apple devices. However, I downloaded the Android app on my phone and it’s throwing a mysterious “unable to load, pull to try again” error (and not letting me look at any content or take any actions), so that doesn’t seem to be working either.
Redbox might eventually work out a deal to transfter purchased movies to another service. When UltraViolet shut down in 2019, the company allowed users to link their movie collections to another platform to continue watching them, such as Vudu. For now, though, Redbox users are cut off from their digital movie collection.
Source: Cord Cutters News
