UNA officials signed a contract last Friday for the installation of a new DVD rental kiosk in the GUC.

The kiosk will be located in the GUC vestibule, possibly right behind the ATM machine.

The company installing the kiosk is Vendisk LLC and was started by owner Kenny Porter earlier this year. So far he has installed other DVD rental boxes in Rogersville and Minor Hill, Tenn.

He hopes the rental kiosk will appeal to on-campus students who only have to walk to the GUC to rent a movie instead of driving to the nearest Red Box or rental store.

The kiosk will hopefully offset the $1.50 per movie price compared to Red Box’s $1 movies. In addition to being in a more central location on campus, the DVD selection will also be newer, according to Porter.

“My movies are, in most cases, four weeks newer than the ones in Red Box,” he said.

This is because movies released to Red Box are required to have at least a four-week waiting period so that the DVDs can hit retail stores. Since Porter’s business is privately owned, he doesn’t have to follow those stringent guidelines.

Porter is also working on a website, which he expects to be in operation by August, where students can request movies or TV shows they would like to see in the kiosk.

The installation of the kiosk is part of an SGA initiative to build funds for a new endowed scholarship that will be developing during the next five years at UNA.

“It’s a leadership scholarship,” said SGA President Ralph Akalonu. “Since it’s endowed, we have to raise the funds ourselves. The revenue is part of the contribution to the scholarship.”

Ten percent of the sales revenue will go back to the SGA to supplement the scholarship fund.

A spearhead of the plan to install the kiosk on campus was UNA student Cameron Kelly-Johnson.

“This is an awesome opportunity for UNA students to get a service they want on campus and get a little money back for themselves,” he said.

Although the contract has been signed, there are still some logistics that need to be resolved before installation can occur. Regardless, the new kiosk can be expected in the GUC vestibule by July or August.