• Bloomberg, Friday, December 17, 2010 12:20 AM

NCR's Blockbuster Express movie-rental unit reached a licensing agreement with Warner Bros. that gives the studio 28 days to sell new releases before they are placed in kiosks. NCR will be able to buy videos directly from Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros. at a lower price and in greater volume than it gets from third parties. The pact applies to DVDs that will go on sale in stores in January.

The company has 28-day agreements with NBC Universal and News Corp.'s Twentieth Century Fox, studios that also require a four-week window from a movie's so-called street date, when it is available for sale on DVD after being shown in theaters. Blockbuster Express rents most of its movies for $1 a day through almost 8,000 kiosks. The company competes with Coinstar Inc.'s Redbox service, which rents for the same price through more than 28,000 rental booths. This month, NCR began offering three titles for $2.99 a night on the same date the movies went on sale in stores.

Read the whole story at Bloomberg »