A revolutionary new DVD vending service which has recently launched in Southern Co-Operative and Scotmid stores in Portsmouth and Edinburgh is set to allow the people of the cities to use the latest technology to watch their favourite films.

The Movie Booth are the UK’s leading distributor of DVD vending kiosks and have recently launched two of their automated rental kiosks in Co-Op stores in Portsmouth and four kiosks in shops in Edinburgh.  The machines offer rental of a range of movies from new releases to classics for £1.50 per night, and the company are also giving customers the chance to rent their first movie for free.

In the USA, consumers have increasingly turned to DVD rental kiosks as a cheap way to get access to movies.  Some of America’s giant corporations have invested in this technology and kiosks now account for 13% of the DVD rental market.  There are now over 30,000 of these units across the States, and The Movie Booth have plans to emulate the popularity of US DVD kiosks here in the UK.

Demand from consumers for the most cost efficient way to access movies is being met by online rental by post services and traditional stores at present, but it is expected that a dramatic growth in DVD rental kiosks will commence in 2010.  The Movie Booth is pioneering this technology in the UK and now has 30 units in operation.

The company recently commenced trial partnerships with both Southern Co-Operative and ScotMid to deploy kiosks as a trial across the group.  Machines were recently launched in Co-Op stores on Rowner Road, Gosport and Elm Grove in Portmouth and Bath Street, Easter Road, Leven Street and Raeburn Place in Edinburgh.  The machines stock the latest movies including titles such as Michael Jackson’s This Is It and Up.  Users simply touch the screen to choose their film, and the machine uses technology to ensure that customer’s cards are safe when used to rent a movie.

Paul Dugdale, Business Development Manager at The Movie Booth said “These kiosks have been massively successful in America. We’re delighted to be putting our kiosks into Co-Operative stores and we hope that the people of both Portsmouth and Edinburgh will enjoy the benefits of renting movies from our kiosks”.

A spokesperson for the Southern Co-Op said “At The Southern Co-operative we continually strive to find new and innovative ways of improving our customer service and we are pleased, once again, to be the leaders in supporting a new concept, on this occasion through DVD rental in our local stores on Elm grove, Portsmouth and Rowner Road, Gosport.”

Visit www.themoviebooth.com for further information.