Slashdot Mirror
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."
Browsing in a browser just doesn't hold up to browsing the physical media. Guess I'm just a library kinda guy.
It is unwise to ascribe motive
Obligatory Onion reference
If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
Wasn't it Blockbuster who ran the mom and pop video rental stores out of business with their corporate muscle?
Speaking of Mom and Pop video stores, when my favorite local video store was steamrolled out of business by Blockbuster, he fired back (literally) by using half of his store to manufacture illegal fireworks! Every year near the end of June, the video store was packed with customers, until one day a manufacturing accident created a big explosion and a big fire. My brother was nearby when it went down, and said there were rockets flying through the streets, and saw the owner get carried out on a stretcher with lots of charred skin! He eventually recovered, and still makes the fireworks but in a different location.
Sadly this guy had one of the biggest collections of NES and SNES games I've ever seen, as well as a massive collection of 80s and 90s VHS pr0n that I never got to see (but always peeked behind the curtain to get a glimpse of the box covers); all was destroyed in the fire.
At this point, Blockbuster is so far behind its competitors that the only responsible choice is to liquidate its inventory, cut some severance checks and pass on the remaining cash as a distribution to shareholders.
We're not used to thinking like that, but Blockbuster has probably not a hope in Hell of actually holding its own at this point. Therefore it should do whatever it can to pass along its remaining value directly back to its shareholders before it squanders it on a vain attempt to beat very entrenched competitors who already have mindshare high ground with the public.
Tell me, fellow slashdotters: was there anything better when you were a kid than going to the video store on a friday night to rent a video game or movie?
There were no videogames or movie rentals when I was a kid, kid. I spent my Friday nights at the drive-in theater (in fact I worked at one when I was a teenager). I spent a lot of time at the public library, and in my room with a slide rule and soldering gun.
I recognize how convenient and better services like Netflix and Gamefly are, but there's just something about going into a dusty old video store and browsing the shelves that convenience will never replace.
Netflix didn't kill Blockbuster, stupidity did. Here in Springfield the Blockbuster store closed down a year or two ago. They were stupid enough to open right across the street from Family Video and rent new releases for four bucks a day while FV rented them for $3 a week. BB rented older movies for $3 for 2 days while FV rented them for a buck a week.
Guess what? Family Video is still there, and a lot of FV stores are in town. AFAIK that was the only Blockbuster here.
Only an idiot opens a store across the street from the competetion and tries to charge higher prices for the same goods. Blockbuster is going bankrupt because their business model is almost as stupid as the record labels.
Free Martian Whores!
A lesson to all businesses that treat their Customers like crap. They screwed me 15 years ago losing a movie I returned, refused to give me the benefit of the doubt, then found the movie and still charged me a huge late fee. I never set foot in another one of their stores. I hope all the blockbuster execs lose their golden parachutes.
Still, it has to suck for those unfortunate poor bastards that have crap-tastic or non-existent internet service. And no, not all libraries or library networks have a good selection of titles. (Netflix doesn't ever use mailed catalogs, do they?)
On the upside, in the more remote or rural areas - the Ma & Pa type video stores can get back into the game. It'll just take a while.
One more greedy corporation who muscled out the small, neighborhood stores and when they finally became the big kid on the block, squeezed their customers for everything they could. Now, in the light of new technology they're unable to control, they become unable to compete. So be it.
In the words of airline stewardesses everywhere: B'bye!
Indeed. My "venal Blockbuster" story are the sheets of prepaid rental coupons that were suitable for "gift giving". My wife bought some sheets of these to give me as a birthday gift - which I used a few times, and then discovered that they had "expired"! These were not some sort of promotional freebies, not even some sort of discount deal, they were full price pre-paid rentals! And in tiny print on the back of the coupons (not evident in any of their gift promotions) I discovered that they were only good for six months. Having advance use of our money for free, and the bonus possibility that I might lose or forget about them and thus never redeem all of them (common with gift cards) was not good enough for their profit margins - they had to convert a sale into a theft. I didn't use Blockbuster much after that - a great strategy for building your consumer loyalty.
Starships were meant to fly, Hands up and touch the sky - Nicky Minaj
The journalist, MPAA, and RIAA model indicate that when a business model becomes outdated, you solve that not by evolving to compete in a new landscape, but instead litigation and lobbying. Duh!
Or perhaps the fact the fact they have changed the rental overdue agreement substantially several times has played a part. They went from no overdue fees to "Gee, it's a week late? It's yours!" with virtually no fanfare. I may be exaggerating slightly, but not much!!!
Pam
http://www.talksocialnews.com/
In 1999 or 2000 they changed the policy while I had a dvd rented and sitting in my college dorm. The result was that I had a fraction of a day less to return the rental. Of course, since they changed the rules after I had checked out the disk, I didn't know this. When I brought it back and was told I owed a late fee, I still had my receipt with the return deadline listed, which the manager agreed showed clearly that my return was, in fact, on time. But he said there was nothing he could do (which was nonsense, I'd seen them selectively remove late fees before). I didn't pay the fee despite years of letters from BB and never did business with them again.
I also got about a dozen BB customers to switch to Netflix. I like to think that I contributed, in a very small way, to this bankruptcy.
"I zero-index my hamsters" - Willtor (147206)
I tend to agree with this. Blockbuster's problem, or at least in my area, is that it's actually rather expensive compared to the mom-and-pop video store across town. The mom-and-pop has a huge selection of foreign films (I found that out when I started suffering my Kirosawa fetish), and its new regular releases are about a buck cheaper.
I go to the mom-and-pop store and there's always ten or fifteen people browsing, go to Blockbuster and maybe three or four. I just can't see how they can pay the rent with those low numbers.
At some point I'm sure hi-def streaming will become affordable, or even available, and even the mom-and-pops' will disappear, but for now, renting DVDs just makes more sense for me.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
As bandwidth shrinks in the US
Huh, didn't know that was happening. My connection speeds have been getting faster... for the last 15 years.
Coming soon: Google TV, Apple TV, Boxee...
br/