Business briefs: GM admission on recall clears driver in fatality
CANTON, Texas – A Texas judge has cleared a woman accused in a fatal wreck after General Motors acknowledged her car would have been among millions recalled for an ignition switch problem that may have contributed to the death.
Candice Anderson pleaded guilty to charges related to a 2004 crash that severely injured her and killed her fiance, Gene Erikson. Investigators say Anderson was driving when her Saturn Ion suddenly veered off a road outside Dallas and hit a tree, but the air bags didn’t deploy.
Court officials said a judge on Monday expunged Anderson’s record in the case, after GM said the recall condition “may have caused or contributed” to the air bags not deploying.
Anderson was charged with criminally negligent homicide. She pleaded guilty to lesser charges and received five years of probation.
Redbox rental rate going up 25 percent
SAN FRANCISCO – Redbox is raising its DVD rental prices by 25 percent in an effort to wring more revenue from the shrinking audience that still watches movies on discs rather than online.
The increase announced Monday means the price to check out a DVD from one of Redbox’s nearly 44,000 in-store kiosks will climb from $1.20 per day to $1.50 effective Dec. 2. Redbox’s Blu-Ray rental rates are jumping 33 percent, from $1.50 per day to $2.
Video game lovers will be even harder hit beginning Jan. 6. That’s when Redbox will begin charging $3 per day to rent video games, a 50 percent increase from the current $2.
Investors are betting most Redbox customers will shrug off the higher prices. The stock of Redbox’s owner, Outerwall Inc., surged $7.83, 12 percent, to close Monday at $71.39 – the biggest one-day gain since February 2012.
Redbox is trying to cope with technology that has spawned convenient alternatives that give consumers quick and easy access to thousands of movies and TV shows. Those options include Netflix’s $9-per-month Internet video service, with 37 million U.S. subscribers, and various video-on-demand packages offered by cable- and satellite-TV providers.
Bud’s Clydesdales out to pasture for holidays
NEW YORK – Budweiser is putting its Clydesdales out to pasture for the holidays.
The country’s No. 3 beer brand said the horses will not play a role in its traditional advertising for the season, although the company added later Monday that they will be featured in spots promoting responsible drinking. Anheuser-Busch InBev also said the Clydesdales will return to be part of its upcoming Super Bowl ads.
“The Clydesdales play a strong role for the brand, representing Budweiser quality and care for more than 80 years. As icons of the brand – and relevant symbols of integrity, perfection and team spirit for all generations – they are important to the brand and our campaigns,” Anheuser-Busch said in a statement Monday.
The change comes as Budweiser’s share of the U.S. beer market has declined since hitting its peak in 1988. According to Beer Marketer’s Insights, Budweiser had 7.6 percent of the market last year, down from 14.4 percent a decade ago. The erosion has been the result of the growing popularity of light and craft beers, said Eric Shepard, executive editor of the industry tracker.
The Clydesdales have been associated with Budweiser since 1933, when the company introduced them to celebrate the repeal of Prohibition for beer.