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    Verizon and Redbox's Netflix killer becomes 'Redbox Instant by Verizon'

    Verizon and Redbox's Netflix killer becomes 'Redbox Instant by Verizon'

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    Verizon and Redbox's video streaming joint venture has appointed Shawn Strickland as CEO and has been officially named as Redbox Instant by Verizon.

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    redbox instant

    Last February, Verizon and Redbox announced a joint venture looking to deliver streaming video content. Now, the union between the two companies has yielded an official name and a new CEO, according to FastCompany. Dubbed Redbox Instant by Verizon, the service will compliment Redbox's physical kiosk locations by offering a subscription service that will stream video to customers, similar to Netflix and Amazon Instant Video, to "devices they prefer." Shawn Strickland, formerly the VP of Verizon's FiOS division, has been appointed as CEO of the service, and his expertise is likely to be a key factor in the construction of the network infrastructure needed to support a video streaming to a wide userbase.

    The service went into alpha testing today and will be fully launched by "the second half of 2012." While Redbox already has plenty of media partnerships for physical media, gaining the necessary rights to stream movies — especially new releases — could take some time. We'll have to wait and see if Redbox Instant takes on streaming television, but with Strickland behind the wheel it's definitely not out of the question.