Blockbuster has definitely seen better days, but now it’s starting to seem downright desperate. According to a recent report from Bloomberg, Blockbuster is reportedly gearing up to sell mobile phones alongside the Milk Duds at its brick-and-mortar stores. → Read More
Dish Network has the answer to Netflix: Blockbuster. The company bought the bankrupt Blockbuster six months ago at auction for $228 million and apparently wasted no time integrating Blockbuster’s current streaming service into Dish’s satellite TV plans. The Blockbuster Movie Pass is a complete media rental service and features streaming movies and TV shows along with movies and games-by-mail. But… → Read More
According to an AP report, Dish Networks, the soon-to-be new owner of Blockbuster, is keeping the leases on 500 of Blockbuster’s physical stores. The reasoning, while on the surface inscrutable, will give Dish a physical presence and allow it access to Blockbuster’s assets and brand to sell its own satellite TV service to consumers. → Read More
I’d be lying if I said that I haven’t taken some delight in watching the complete and utter collapse of Blockbuster.
You see, back when I was a child, our community had a couple of thriving local video stores that were the source of pretty much endless enjoyment for me. Then Blockbuster came along. By then, the company was already a mega-chain of blue and gold awnings that decorated much of the… → Read More
DISH Network this morning announced that it was selected as the winning bidder in the bankruptcy court auction for substantially all of the assets of Blockbuster, which went belly up in September 2010.
DISH’s winning bid was valued at approximately $320 million, but after adjustments for available cash and inventory and others, the company expects to end up paying approximately $228 million in… → Read More
It is nearly the end of the road for Blockbuster as we know it. The company has put itself up for auction and is accepting bids higher than “stalking horse” Cobalt Video Holdco bid of $290 million. The plan, then would be to accept a higher offer from any potential bidders or sell the assets to Cobalt.
What will you get for your $290 million? → Read More
It’s come to this: the success of Netflix and Redbox in the United States have driven Blockbuster, as expected, to file for bankruptcy protection after failing to adequately and swiftly adapt its movie-rental model from physical storefronts to mail-order and online technology pioneered by its aforementioned competitors.
The company filed a voluntary Chapter 11 petition today in U.S. Bankruptcy… → Read More
Blockbuster is about to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and will close up to 800 stores. According to the WSJ, the move would wipe out Blockbuster’s debt and leave the company ready to take on the online market. → Read More
Like John Henry dying at his hammer, Blockbuster is just about ready to stop being a steel-driving man. According to the LA Times, the company could file for bankruptcy as soon as September in a move, while dire, doesn’t specifically mean the end of the company. → Read More
Now why would a cable company that handles pay per view movies and programming team up with a video store? I have no idea. But for whatever reason (perhaps desperation?) Comcast has joined forces with Blockbuster to deliver DVDs by mail. You’d think Comcast would just deliver the content via their high speed internet feeds, or receiver based delivery systems. Perhaps this is just a marketing… → Read More
Only weeks after Blockbuster signed a deal with Warner, the company has signed new agreements with Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. It appears that the deals with the two studios companies will be similar to the Warner deal, which ensured that studio’s new titles would be available in Blockbuster stores and by mail the day they are released on… → Read More
When’s the last time you were at a Blockbuster?
For me, it’s been a few years. And it’s been several years since I was going regularly. And I was only doing that because the then-Viacom-backed-giant drove the mom and pop video stores out of business in my community. I have no desire to ever step into a Blockbuster store ever again. But Warner Bros. sure wants me to.
Today, Blockbuster announced… → Read More
A new movie came out on DVD this week called The Invention Of Lying. It’s co-written, co-directed, and co-starring Golden Globe host Ricky Gervais and looks mildly entertaining enough that I want to rent it. So I load up Netflix to add it to my queue — but wait, according to Netflix, it’s not available until February 16. Why? Because it’s a Warner movie and as such is subject to Netflix’s… → Read More
Good news in the lawsuit against Netflix and Blockbuster; the legal system for the great state of California has judged that the rental queue patent was not violated! → Read More
Look at this. It was just yesterday that we learned about the Blockbuster Express DVD kiosks that will be invading NYC shortly and there is already a deal for the rentals. You can get two DVDs for only $1. That’s, well, cheap. → Read More
Look out, NYC. Blockbuster is getting ready to roll out 200 Blockbuster Express DVD rental kiosks in New York City. Why you ask? Well, according to the WSJ report, NYC is a Redbox weak spot with only three kiosks in the entire city while there are more than 20,000 nationwide. But just like the original DVD rental kiosk, Redbox, Blockbuster Express offers first run movies (which the movie studio’s… → Read More
Blockbuster, observing the popularity of services like RedBox (a DVD rental kiosk), has decided they’re going to skip a step and start offering movie rentals that come on an SD card. The new kiosks would load a DRMed movie onto your own SD card, and the content will expire after X viewings or days. They’re hoping that the better quality of the movies (vs. streaming ones or regular DVD) will bring… → Read More
Back in August, we wrote about the Hollywood movie studios conspiring to keep new release DVDs away from services like Netflix and Redbox for as many as 30 days after their release. The idea behind this from Hollywood’s perspective is simple: If people can’t rent movies right away, they’ll buy more. Sorry, did I say the idea was “simple”? I meant, “idiotic”.
At the time, it was reported that… → Read More
TiVo users have known that Blockbuster On Demand was coming to TiVo for a while, but the service just went live. So, does it have the goods to put up a fight against Netflix or Amazon On Demand that have been streaming content on TiVos for months already? Nope, not at all. → Read More
Don’t look now, but your Series 2, 3, or HD TiVo is probably getting the Blockbuster On Demand update right now. Actually, go look now because while I couldn’t get a picture to show this accurately, the screen above looks slightly different than other TiVo screens. It’s tad higher resolution and there is just something different about it. Maybe a TiVo GUI refresh is just around the corner… → Read More
TiVo users! Rejoice! Soon you’ll have access to Blockbuster On Demand content as if Amazon, Netflix, Walt Disney Studios, and Jaman services weren’t enough. I hear that sometime today, the service will go live on Series 2, 3, HD, and HD XL boxes but so far it isn’t up on either my HD or HD XL units. Not that it matters all that much. I’m not going to use it anyway. → Read More
Blockbuster – the once dominant, now prehistoric video rental company where you used to rack up incredible late fees (and anger towards their employees) – is not only still kicking, but seems to be positioning itself for a 21st century “comeback” of sorts via a new partnership with Motorola. Talk about two companies who could use some new-found success (read… → Read More
Movie piracy is a problem, but it’s not as huge of a problem as music piracy was this past decade. While certainly the size of the movie files and the need for fast broadband connections to get them in a reasonable amount of time plays into it somewhat, also helping is the fact that there are some fairly decent ways to get movies quickly, for a pretty fair price these days. And now Hollywood is… → Read More
For whatever reason, PNY has teamed up with Blockbuster to bring you gobs of flash memory and discounted movie rentals. That’s right, folks, when you pick up a 4GB or 8GB Attaché from PNY you’ll be given a code for 50 percent off your next OnDemand rental from Blockbuster.com. → Read More
Two great tastes that taste great together! Blockbuster and Archos are teaming up to sell a $299 Archos 10 netbook to consumers who just can’t be bothered to “shop around” and “not go to a freaking Blockbuster for computer hardware.” What’s next? Electric toothbrushes? → Read More
What did I say when the Blockbuster OnDemand service launched last year? I said something about not discounting the service because the company has a lot riding on it, that’s what. This partnership between Blockbuster and Samsung which will place the service on the majority of Samsung’s new video gear implies that the service broke through to the mainstream and is here to stay. → Read More
Widgets and gadgets are the latest trend to hit HDTVs. Vizio is upping the game by equipping its soon-to-be-released HDTVs with an impressive suite of Internet applications and video streaming sites. So much so, that this portfolio will place them on top of many people’s wish list as these TVs will be better equipped than a TiVo or even Windows Media Server. → Read More
Wow. That was fast. A few years after Gamefly basically sewed up the entire games-by-mail thing, Blockbuster is launching a game rental pilot program in the U.S. Where is the first place that gets these exciting 360, Wii, and PS3 games? Is it Austin? Dallas? Denver?
Nope. Cleveland. That’s right: the heart of Ohio’s blightland gets to rock out with it’s controller out with Blockbuster’s online… → Read More
Sadly, all three have short lifespans Video giant Blockbuster can’t get any money to save itself from bankruptcy. Thanks to years of heavy fighting with Netflix, the company has essentially spent itself into the ground and, thanks to the credit crunch, is looking at closing its doors. → Read More
Remember BlockBuster? For you younglings who don’t, it was a poplar retail chain that rented “videos” and “DVDs” to people, in person. It’s still around, but no one really uses it anymore. Anyway, BlockBuster just inked a deal with TiVO, which also isn’t doing too well—it currently has its smallest subscriber base since 2005—to bring BlockBuster-branded streaming movies to… → Read More
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