The joint venture now has a name -- Redbox Instant by Verizon -- as well as a CEO: Shawn Strickland, formerly president of Verizon's New York south/east region. It will launch sometime in the second half of 2012, according to the company's website.
The multi-platform subscription service will have both an online streaming and download component, and offer access to newly released movie DVDs and Blu-rays through Redbox's 36,800 nationwide kiosks. (Netflix, it's worth noting, mails its DVDs.) Customers will be able to access the online content on devices such as smartphones, tablets, computers and TVs.
Still, there's a lot we don't know: how much it's going to cost, what studios have signed on, what titles will be available, etc.
A Redbox spokesperson said the service is now in "internal alpha" testing, and will presumably enter a short beta period before being made public later this year.