Comparison Shopping for Video Rental Accounts: What "Free" Really Means in the Words "Free Rentals"

Video rental is a popular way for families to participate in the film industry without having to pay the often outrageous cinema prices. And at a price of $4 (price including tax) for a five day rental on each new release at most video rental stores, this is definitely the more practical way to approach the situation. But some rental franchises are taking this monumental value a step farther with free rentals.

No, they are not really free, you have to go to a friend's house, or public library, for that. But for a small fee each month, patrons can check movies out just as if they were visiting a library. With so many companies offering such deals, which store offers the best value for the money? That all depends on what you are looking for but I will try to condense the comparison shopper experience into a few easy to follow paragraphs, to try to help you along your way. The three biggest (nationwide) names in the movie rental business are Hollywood Video, Blockbuster, and Netflix. Each of these companies offer similar but not identical services.

Hollywood Video

We'll start with Hollywood Video because they offer the fewest choices in "plans." They call their service the MVP subscription, and that stands for Movie Value Pass. The Basic MVP subscription is $14.99 per month and allows patrons to check out three titles at one time, per account, for free. These titles can be any from the Hollywood Film Library (also known in other outlets as "catalog video," referring to anything on the shelves away from the new releases, which are almost always found along the perimeter of any video rental store) as well as selected new release titles, generally available for free MVP rental approximately 4 to 6 weeks following the video release, depending partially on popularity. The Basic subscription allows for unlimited rentals each month but, again, only three titles may be checked out at any one time (for free, of course, MVP members are welcome to pay rental fees on additional titles above the initial three).