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Blockbuster Files For Bankruptcy
Dallas-based Blockbuster Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday, calling into question the futures of over 5,600 stores worldwide. The company will be evaluating each location on a case-by-case basis, and seeks to cut costs after reporting a $558 million net loss last year. Newsweek credits the company's slow adoption of new media distribution methods as a big reason for the company's decline. "... while Blockbuster discussed creating its own subscription service to rival Netflix, it wasn't until August 2004 that its online DVD rental program actually started in the US. And when, in 2004, Coinstar entered the market with its Redbox DVD kiosks, Blockbuster didn't begin installing similar devices until 2008." CNET suggests that "Leaders of pay TV services might be wise to start doing the business equivalent of digging foxholes and manning the battlements or the same thing could happen to them."
And conveniently these days you can borrow movies from most local libraries.... free.
Guess I'm just a library kinda guy.
Then go to the library. I haven't needed Netflix nor Blockbuster for a good long time. My library is part of a rather large network of libraries. I can go to the library itself and browse available titles and I can also put a hold online for pretty much any movie I want. Yes, I have to wait a bit longer for recent releases compared to a pay service, but I'm patient and there are plenty of older good movies that have zero wait that you can watch in the interim. Now, if you live somewhere where there aren't any good libraries, well, I guess you are SOL. I've never had this problem, but I guess if you live in the boonies it affects you.
Blockbuster Canada unaffected. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/blockbuster-files-for-protection/article1719915/
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Netflix(NFLX) announced on Friday that it will expand its licensing agreement with NBC, allowing users to stream prior televisions series from its cable and broadcast networks.
Netflix subscribers will be able to watch series like Saturday Night Live, Friday Night Lights, Monk and Battlestar Galactica, the company said.
Netflix has been working over the last several months to expand its streaming content, first through a partnership with EPIX, a joint venture between Viacom(VIA), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios and Lions Gate Entertainment(LFG) that could add up to 20,000 new titles to Netflix's streaming content.
By your logic Netflix should have never went into business.
Netflix, Redbox, and Blockbuster all offer the same product. The only thing that is different is cost and how they deliver the product to you. Netflix entered the market with a new delivery method (straight to home) at a low cost and it worked. Redbox entered the market with a low cost and instead of stores they have kiosks positioned strategically through out towns and cities.
For Blockbuster to convert to those two models probably wouldn't cost much. The real cost is regaining lost customers. At this point they're so far behind in a customer base that it might be impossible to regain customers unless they can offer something that no competitor can, and I don't think lowering the price of the product will help.
Don't forget their end of latefees-- which ended up the king of late fees. Apparently, if you kept the DVD, no late fees occurred, because they just charged your credit card for the purchase of the movie.. (I actually wrote about this in 2005.. End of Late Fees)
Or what about the "always in stock guarantee!" That was my favorite. Apparently, if the new release you were looking for wasn't in stock, they'd give you a little paper rain check that says "You can rent this dvd at a future date for exactly the same price it is today, no questions asked!" Which would be just awesome, except.. their prices didn't really change often.. It was the same as not getting a rain check at all. They didn't hold a copy for you or anything. It was a disingenuous marketing ploy.. each and every one of them.
Every time they changed something, it was an insult to their customers. My $17.99 3-dvd at a time account transformed one night to $24.99. I was a little peeved, but at the time, I was enjoying the number of discs I could rent. So then they upped it one more time (about a month later) to $34.99. I dropped it like it was hot. F-that. Netflix it is. They literally couldn't have done a worse job at customer retention. It was like they were chasing me off with a big stick.
Belief? Hope? Preference?The Existential Vortex
Quite. I was a BlockBuster customer, but when I got a DVD player, I quickly gave up on them. They couldn't see the juggernaut approaching, and took forever to start stocking DVDs. When they did finally stock them, they only had an anemic selection of cropped "pan and scan" versions of a few of the most popular movies. So it wasn't just a matter of thinking the Internet wouldn't catch on; they also thought DVD wouldn't catch on.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
One reason Blockbuster (and most rental stores) didn't like DVDs is because they'd come back scratched and eventually become unplayable. They preferred the longer life of the VHS tape, and therefore avoided DVDs as long as possible.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
Just a quick note -- Netflix does have a Corporate Headquarters. I know. I work there. It's very nice. And the salaries are well-known to be noticeably above-average. It's a kick-ass place to work.
I'm not spilling any corporate secrets when I note that analysts have acknowledged for a while that the lower Netflix drives its subscription plans, the harder it will be to compete with it. We started with a, what, $15.95 plan, I think? (I was a subscriber back in 2002). The lowest plan which offers unlimited streaming is $8.99/month now. Pretty sure you'll never see it go up.
This post needs some perspective I think. Let me qualify my post by saying:
1) I am a former Blockbuster employee (5 years ago while I was in college).
2) I am a current Netflix subscriber and occasional Redbox user. I can not recall the last time I walked into a Blockbuster. I think their business model is archaic.
Which only occurred after you didn't return it for a week! Did you think they were just going to let you keep the movie forever?
Unless this changed since I worked there, this is out and out wrong. The rain check was for a FREE copy of that title on your next visit.
I was quoted out of context in my autobiography...
If given a choice between late fees versus streaming and bandwidth overage charges, I'll take the late fees. Same with scratched media versus looking at a circle of 8 dots blinking during the high point of a movie while the thing rebuffers.
As bandwidth shrinks in the US, the real victor for Blockbuster leaving the arena will be cable companies and pay per view because broadcasting is cheap for them, as opposed to streaming which takes up bandwidth.
I don't agree with the last part of the summary saying the cable companies are going the same way as Blockbuster.
The cable companies MIGHT go the same was as Blockbuster if the cable companies had a serious competitor like RedBox or Netflix. As far as I can tell, there is no alternative (especially for niche interests like mine...soccer, racing, BBC). Sure you can get tv content from online sources, but can I watch Texas vs. UCLA this weekend without a cable subscription? How about Oregon vs. Arizona State? What about the Singapore Grand Prix? How about some English Premiere League soccer or the CONCACAF matches?
And even if I could get this content that I want on-demand, cheaply and easily, how do I get it to my TV with surround sound? So far none of the alternatives has solved this issue for me.
Don't let facts get in your way. The $700 billion bailout was a Bush policy.
http://articles.cnn.com/2008-09-24/politics/bush.bailout_1_bailout-proposal-rescue-plan-mortgage-related-securities?_s=PM:POLITICS
Correcting myself, apparently they themselves censor flicks, but they did have a policy where they wouldn't accept unrated or nc-17 films. Cronenberg had to do R rated edits of his movies for Blockbuster otherwise they just wouldn't carry them.
DVDlater.com
It will let you add movies that are in theaters to your netflix queue.
Don't forget their end of latefees-- which ended up the king of late fees. Apparently, if you kept the DVD, no late fees occurred, because they just charged your credit card for the purchase of the movie.
Which only occurred after you didn't return it for a week! Did you think they were just going to let you keep the movie forever?
I think you're misremembering this bit.
Blockbuster charged you a $1.25 restocking fee after 7 days. It wasn't the traditional late fee, which was based upon the number of days you were late, but no reasonable person is going to believe that that $1.25 isn't, in reality, a late fee.
They charged you the full price of the movie after 30 days--way more reasonable than 7, but still a nasty surprise for some people.
Unless this changed since I worked there, this is out and out wrong. The rain check was for a FREE copy of that title on your next visit.
You are correct. The GP has his head up his behind, or just has a hate-on for Blockbuster.
For example, when buying media for rental purposes, they have to spend a LOT more for each copy -- they can't just go to Best Buy to buy their rental copies.
Sure they can. This is what RedBox does. Blockbuster just pays extra to get their rental copies before they're available in Best Buy.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
In my experience library disks are scratched enough that you will almost never be able to watch the full movie. Obsolete discs should be replaced by streaming...but it's really a waste of library resources when everything is out there on the internet already.