| Industry | Retail/DVD rental |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2002 |
| Headquarters | Houston, TX |
The New Release is a company that owns and operates DVD rental kiosks. The company is based in Houston, is part of privately-held TNR Entertainment Corp. TNR is backed by an institutional investor group including Celerity Partners, LP of Los Angeles; Chapton Partners, LP, a Houston family partnership; Laminar Direct Capital, L.P., a member of the D. E. Shaw group of companies and MCG Capital, a leading specialized financial services company and financial advisor [1].
Each interactive kiosk holds up to 1,000 DVDs, including new releases and classic titles [2]. To rent a movie, consumers swipe their credit card, make their selection and the machine the dispenses the movie(s) [3]. The charge per rental is $1 per day; keeping a DVD more than 14 days is effectively the same as purchasing the DVD.
The kiosks are widely located at stores including Albertson's, Dillon’s, Kroger, Publix and others -- and past promotions have included a “Movie Lover’s Survey,” “Movie For a Year” and a “First Movie Free.”
The company also operates kiosks under the name "moviecube," a California company which New-Release just bought, and has recently began redirecting their website to http://www.moviecube.com/.
Founded in 2002, The New Release focuses primarily on the grocery channel. The first kiosks were installed in Houston, HEB locations, with later expansion into Dallas Kroger locations [4].
The New Release periodically creates promotions to entice current consumers and attract new ones. The New Release held a “Movie Lover’s Survey,” where they gave away free movies to the first 500 respondents [5].
Recently, The New Release gave away “Movie For a Year” to 45 customers throughout North America [6].
In the past, The New Release produced a “First Movie Free” promotion in many of its locations nationwide [7].