Paramount defies Fox, Warner, tries out $1 Redbox rentals

Like Sony Pictures and Lionsgate Entertainment before it, Paramount Pictures has agreed to supply its films to Redbox DVD rental kiosks. The $1 per night rentals that Redbox offers have caused a good deal of controversy among motion picture studios and has resulted in legal actions on the part of 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros., both of whose opinions are clearly on record: Cheap rentals devalue their DVDs.

Paramount's availability on Redbox will only be a trial, where the studio receives detailed rental metrics from the kiosks until the end of 2009. The studio will then evaluate the impact and viability of Redbox, to decide if it wants to stick with the program. At the end of the four-month trial, Paramount will have the option to extend it to 2014, with an "out clause" after two years.

Like its deal with Sony, Redbox has agreed to destroy Paramount's rental copies after they're taken out of circulation rather than re-sell them.

Redbox, a subsidiary of CoinStar, has taken both 20th Century Fox and Warner Home Video to court to "protect consumers' rights to access new release DVDs." Both studios want to force Redbox to receive their titles 28 days after they're released in stores.