REDBOX INCREASES DVD RENTAL RATE

Redbox announced on Monday they will be increasing the cost of DVD rentals from $1/night to $1.20/night. Redbox cites the increased costs incurred of debit card usage as a the main factor for the increase. So far, nightly pricing for Blu-ray discs ($1.50) and videogames ($2) is staying the same, but with studios already pushing for longer rental delays, there's fewer safe ports or those pursuing cheap, current movies. On the conference call, executives floated the idea of using the first sale doctrine to buy and rent retail discs if necessary.

VERIZON iPHONE COSTS MORE OFF CONTRACT THAN AT&T

Verizon's iPhone is expected to sell over nine million units in 2011, most of which will be at the promotional price of $199 for the 16GB and $299 for the 32GB with a two year contract. These are the same prices as AT&T.

However, some of those nine million will be at full retail without any promotional pricing. Those people can expect to pay an additional $50 for the Verizon version, over the the AT&T version. Verizon's full retail price for the 16GB is $649 versus AT&T's $599 and the 32GB will set them back $749 versus $699 at AT&T.

While the CDMA chipset, used in the Verizon iPhone, costs about $30 more, this does not justify the increase in price considering the markup for the iPhone is around 400 percent.

SPRINT ADDING NEW ADD-ON DATA CHARGE TO ALL SMARTPHONES ACTIVATED AFTER JANUARY 30

In a vaguely worded press release, Sprint announced that it would “increase its postpaid rates by applying a $10 per month Premium Data add-on charge to activations of smartphones beginning Jan. 30.” The company notes that smartphone users, on average, use “10 times more data than users of traditional feature phones.” As the press release reads:

Sprint defines smartphones as devices with robust operating systems that deliver a rich wireless experience by bringing the full function of mobile applications and programs to life, including Blackberry, Android, Windows Mobile, Palm, and the Instinct family of devices. The Premium Data add-on charge previously applied to HTC EVO 4G, HTC EVO Shift 4G and Samsung Epic 4G devices.

Sprint,who until recently has been bleeding subscribers, will not be making many friends with this move.

GROOVESHARK TO TRIPLE VIP PRICING TODAY

Grooveshark is a grey market music streaming service.  Like Pandora they offer a music streaming service, however unlike Pandora they do not pay royalties on the music they offer.

Grooveshark offers a free stream supported by advertising and an ad-free VIP tier.  The VIP tier currently priced at $3 per month. Starting today, December 1st, the price will triple to $9 per month.

Grooveshark VIP will become Grooveshark Anywhere and its benefits will remain the same (no ads, streaming to desktop and mobile apps, etc.), and a new option dubbed Grooveshark Plus will emerge that brings all of Anywhere’s benefits minus the mobile streaming. So, if paying for music without being certain that your favorite artists are being supported floats your boat, definitely jump on board before tomorrow and you’ll be grandfathered into the $3 rate until you stop paying — or until Grooveshark goes under. [BGR]

US iTUNES EXPANDING SONG PREVIEW TO 90 SECONDS

According to blog Symphonic Distribution, Apple will be extending the length of song previews in its U.S. iTunes Music store from 30 seconds to 90 seconds. The information comes courtesy of an email being sent around to “label representatives” that reads:

"We are pleased to let you know that we are preparing to increase the length of music previews from 30 seconds to 90 seconds on the iTunes Store in the United States. We believe that giving potential customers more time to listen to your music will lead to more purchases."

The communication goes on to say that the letter legally modifies the U.S. Digital Music Download Sales Agreement that was previously in effect. The communication did not mention when the new music preview length would be implemented or if there are plans to expand the offering worldwide. [BGR]