Redbox is really irritating the studios, but they should calm down

I understand the predicament Hollywood is in because of this disruptive distribution platform. No one wants to see the price of a whole product line undermined. This battle isn't new, by the way. I remember years ago when some in Tinsel Town were angered by McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) and its movie-selling ambitions. Anyone recall the old Indiana Jones promotion back in the early '90s? I got all three of the flicks in the trilogy on VHS tape for something like $5/$6 a piece with the purchase of a meal. People were screaming even then about how consumers were being programmed to reject higher price points for content.

Thing is, we're in a different age. The web is devaluing content like crazy. Look at the music and print industries: consumers just don't want to pay up. They're used to downloading stuff either for free or for a very small amount of money. The genie is out of the bottle, and there's no turning back.

Yet, studios should make sure that they differentiate product that is placed in Redbox from product that is placed on retail shelves. This may be a radical idea, but what about placing some ads on the Redbox discs? You get what you pay for, right? For the convenience of a kiosk and the low price of a buck, maybe viewers should watch a short commercial before the film begins and one in the middle; the power to skip over these ads would be deactivated. In a sense, it's no different than YouTube trying to figure out how to monetize its platform. In this case, studios would merely be attempting to gauge a method for defending the valuation of their libraries. I don't think Redbox would have a problem with such a strategy. Retail-distributed discs would remain ad-free. Besides, when you go to theaters nowadays, you essentially have to sit through promotional inventory before the main show, right? It's really not a stretch. Plus, as this article about News Corp.'s (NASDAQ: NWS) home-video ideas makes clear, you can take away all extra features from rental discs. The point of this thought experiment is to encourage studios to stop whining, accept what they cannot change, and adjust via innovation.

As for investment ideas from this piece, I think some due diligence on Coinstar is definitely recommended. Check out Tom Taulli's piece on the company's latest earnings numbers. The growth story for Coinstar should have several more chapters to go. As always, if you do want to buy, try to remain patient for a pullback, or at least be ready to improve your cost basis through additional purchases.

Disclosure: I own Disney and GE; positions can change without notice.