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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."
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
blockbusters main source of revenue was late fees. all I can say is, goodbye blockbuster don't let the door hit you in the butt.
Goodbye, Blockbuster. With news of your bankruptcy (yes, I know they aren't technically closing all their stores...yet), a bit of my childhood is officially gone.
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? My brother and I rented COUNTLESS NES and SNES games from our local video store (Olney Video)...soooo many games. Good times, good times.
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.
Living With a Nerd
Damn Netflix! Actually, I love the hell out of Netflix, especially since I have my Roku!!
I'm not a Luddite either. Technology has been paying my bills all of my working life. When the bricks and mortar options go away, I'm sure I'll embrace streaming and wonder why I waited so long. But for now...
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?
Always detested Blockbuster, when id want to pick up a DVD after school they'd always make me leave my backpack in the front and follow me around the store. Much happier with Netflix.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has it's limits" - Albert Einstein
Farewell Blockbuster, I will not miss you!
Blockbusted!
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.
You spend all your time focusing on the mom-n-pop's you're putting out of business, and don't look in the rearview mirror to see RedBox or Netflix.
Seriously, Blockbuster lost its karma when it used its size to ink deals with movie studios to stock their shelves on consignment with a percentage of the rental fee going to the studios. This allow BB to stock more movies, while the small local movie rental shops still had to purchase their DVDs at the ridiculously high rental shop price.
These comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of my employer or colleagues...
Blockbuster Canada unaffected. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/blockbuster-files-for-protection/article1719915/
It was profitable but not as profitable as they wanted so they moved their money into offshore accounts so they wouldn't have to pay back their debts.
Tomorrow's stories: Company X buys blockbuster assets for 20 cents on the dollar, fires half the employees. Former blockbuster executive gives millions to charity!
Happening tomorrow but not in the news: Company X hires former Blockbuster executives; major stakeholders suddenly and unaccountably rich. Major wheeling and dealing between politicians, the IRS, and former Blockbuster executives. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in freezers all over the country.
If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
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.
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/
It's really simple - the media landscape has changed and is continuing to change. The internet, literally, changed everything. Companies that think they can get by on the same old, same old are doomed to fail. It might take a couple years or more but, if you fail to evolve when the world around you changes, you will eventually die out. This is true in life and it's equally true in business.
I have zero sympathy for the companies that are failing due to lack of innovation and evolution. Rest on your laurels and you're a footnote in history. Bye bye. Please make room for the companies that are actually _actively_ trying to earn my business.
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.
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!
Well, at least from my own perspective, the delay is reasonable because this just isn't very interesting. With Netflix, iTMS, and pay-per-view movies, Blockbuster because irrelevant to me years ago.
I'm glad bastards are finished. How many customers they have gouged with false "lost" tapes/dvd/games or "late" fees. Twice they have tried to screw me over and it took months to correct "computer" errors.
Yes, I loved in-person browsing and I miss that with Netflix.
But no, I don't miss coming up to the register and finding that I had $7.90 in late fees. The final straw was when I didn't go for a month, and they sent $10 in late fees to a collection agency.
This is what it looks like when business models die.
I view that as trying to protect your existing way of business rather than adapting.
Digging foxholes is the last thing a country struggling to adapt to new realities should do. It only works if you're large enough to get legislation passed to protect the old ways. (MPAA/RIAA)
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
and companies should adapt to the changes, or die. unfortunately, we have established players from dying media industries still trying to uphold laws that don't work in the internet age
such media companies should, for anyone who believes in capitalism, adapt, or die. blockbuster is a perfect example of this natural capitalist death
instead, large entrenched media companies warp the marketplace by influencing the government and our laws to preserve a status quo that should be dying. they'd rather not change. they'd rather corporatize our culture, to change us, to fit their defunct business model. well fuck them, time to die assholes
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
The downfall of Blockbuster was not Netflix or Redbox. It was the operating CEO(s) and investors.
I don't pretend to know all there is to know about the video rental business, but I do know the MPAA has a lot to do with making that business difficult. 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. And as for being able to move on into newer business models; it's not like they didn't want to or didn't try. I get the feeling that various conditions and restrictions were applied to the deal that just make it unworkable.
On the other hand, perhaps they are the "American Airlines" of the video rental industry? You know, at American Airlines, they are encumbered by over-paid, union-backed, 50+-year-old sky-waitresses, union-backed pilots, union-backed everyone else, and over-paid senior executives. No one wants to take a cut in pay to remain competitive and so newer, younger competitors like Southwest Airlines without all those encumberances have posted profits while the older, bigger airlines were posting losses.
So I have to wonder if it is either or both in the case of Blockbuster. My guess is that there is a bit of both. After all, since the 80's, success is measured in "growth" instead of other numbers like RoI or other margins. (I still find it unfathomable that "growth" is used as *the* measure of success. It completely ignores the possibility of market saturation and depends on destroying the competition rather than competing with them. It truly brings out the worst in humanity while at the same time completely ignores that they are operating in a finite world.)
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.
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!
The evil part was Blockbuster versions of DVD's... which had the special features removed.
The REALLY evil part was that they considered subtitles and captions to be special features.. Rented quite a few dvd's to find out that despite what the box said, there was no captions.
At least they generally refunded any rental fees.
to "Bankrupster" now
Sig Follows: "Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself." -- Mark Twain
So does this mean I have to return my outstanding movies or what?
Getting hit with late return fees just doesn't hold up to on demand streaming of tens of thousands of titles. Guess I'm just not a Luddite.
You say this like the late fee is a required part of the rental experience. I've rented a lot of movies over the last 20 years, and never once have I had a late fee. How hard is it to return something on time? Apparently pretty hard, based one how many people get them, but I just don't understand it.
Look Blockbuster was evil and all that, I get that. I got hit by their stupid late fees more than once. Hell I actually got attacked by their late fee credit report hound dogs for like 3 dollars and change at one point.
But why is there such a cartoonishly level of evil in the corporate world these days? Could they not have seen that there was a move to digital media and start to shut down some stores, move their capital, do something that would have provided them a real path to future growth?
Really, I know what I'm doing...Ohhhh, look at the shiny buttons!
i got the new droid x and the stupid blockbuster app is firmly installed and without rooting the phone i cant remove it... i hate stupid useless apps... :(
I know it's hip to romanticize Mom & Pop stores over the big evil corporation, but I would like to offer an alternative viewpoint on this one. Does Blockbuster stock mostly crap (i.e. the latest CGI-fests/the latest Adam Sandler movies/etc.)? You bet. But, you know what, all my Mom & Pop's shelved crap almost *exclusively* before Blockbuster came along in the 90's. Blockbuster was actually a godsend to my neighborhood because they stocked a pretty decent selection of indie and lesser-known movies. They may not have had 100 copies of "Ghost Dog," or "Memento" or "Sling Blade," but at least they had a FEW copies. My local Mom & Pop's didn't have ANY of these movies (before Blockbuster and Netflix, there was no way for me to see these movies without buying them). Blockbuster ran my local rental stores out of business for one very good reason, because they were a lot BETTER (no bullying necessary).
Now, when Netflix came along I went over to them (because they offered an even better selection and didn't censor NC-17's like Blockbuster). But for a long time in the 90's, Blockbuster was the best store out there for film fans in a LOT of neighborhoods and even whole cities. Blockbuster was the only place to go for smaller films, unless you were one of the fortunate few to have a nearby Mom & Pop that catered to indie fans (and those were pretty rare in the cities I lived in, and usually only found near big college campuses and in artier neighborhoods).
So I'll actually miss them. And I also worry that Netflix might now leverage this to jack up their prices and introduce other heavy-handed customer treatment (since they pretty much have a monopoly now on physical rentals).
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
When Blockbuster screwed me over with late fees one night when I was actually on time, I swore I would never give them another penny. That was before Netflix existed. I never stepped foot into another store. I rented everywhere else.
I have been licking my chops waiting for this day a long time...
Good! I never liked Blockbuster anyway and their ridiculous late fees and policies. Netflix for the win.
I'm not sure they every got out of the game. It's common in rural areas for Mom and Pop stores/gas stations/etc to have a rack of rental movies. Maybe only a hundred or so, but still. I don't think blockbuster ever pushed a lot of these people out, because they were never there to begin with.
Blockbuster as a company was always pretty much an idiot douchebag. I hated them with a passion. The really did suck, and I am not sad nor surprised that they are gone.
Feel a bit bad for all the high school kids that now have no jobs however...
There's no reason why small businesses won't spring up to fill the gap, likely with better selections suited for their area. Theres an asian video rental place in the last town I lived (pop. 350,000) and they're still kicking despite being katy-corner from one of the last brick and mortar blockbusters in the region.
Video stores don't require a huge amount of capital compared to other brick and mortar shops, and the recurring costs + staff training is pretty basic.
moox. for a new generation.
I pay more in Netflix subscriptions and not watching the two movies I have checked out for several weeks than I ever do in late fees. That's the ONE reason I still have a blockbuster account. For those rare nights that I know I can sit down for a 2 hour block, watch the movie, and return it on my way to work the next day.
I think late fees get a bad rap, especially if you are a modest movie watcher (i.e. have a job, family, life). The way I look at it is if I have one or two $5 late fees a quarter at Blockbuster, that's still less than the $12 a month that I have the same two Netflix movies checked out. I know it's my fault, but I think it's a pretty realistic scenario for most normal people.
Blockbuster's selection sucked. If you only rented the most popular of movies, you'd probably never notice. But they'd have an entire wall of DVD-release-of-the-week, while completely lacking titles which were only a little out of the mainstream.
Have you ever found Mystery Science Theatre 3000 in a Blockbuster? I haven't, and people looked at me funny when I asked. But it's available at this little local rental place with shelves, stuffed floor to ceiling, with movies. They also have a basement full of obscure anime. That's the rental place which is going to stick around. Places like Blockbuster which trade only in common content will have their lunch eaten by NetFlix and download services. But the stores run by actual local movie nerds offering every obscure title under the sun will still have a reason to exist.
Buh-bye Blockbuster. I won't miss you.
"Live as if you'll die tomorrow." Ridiculous. You could die later today.
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.
Who charges overage fee? I have TWC and even those assholes don't stoop to that level.
Blockbuster censors a lot their videos. Even Criterion Collection films have huge chunks taken right out of them; that to me is just wrong. You can compare pretty much anything by Cronenberg. I stopped renting at Blockbuster when I discovered that a couple decades ago.
Lots of them now have the bigger redbox machines with two or three disc units hooked to the selection one.
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
Well in my experience some of the store managers would hold back a few and drop late fees on me. I call the manager and they tell me tough luck, buddy. Gotta make that monthly revenue target, after all...
I quite Blockbuster 10 years ago, and I've only graced their store a couple of times to buy cheap used titles since...
I said no... but I missed and it came out yes.
Just curious...what kind of "service" are you looking for from the equivalent of a convenience store? You go in, you pick your movie, you check out. If you are like me, you maybe say three or four words to the clerk and then you are on your way.
And pray tell, how hard up are you if you have to rent movies in between Netflix deliveries? I get my next Netflix video the day after I drop the last one off.
Do you mean Andersen Consulting? Also are you referring to the Enron scandal? That was Arthur Andersen. Both Andersen Consulting and Arthur Andersen started from the same company. Arthur Andersen had a long past as an accounting firm whereas Andersen Consulting started as the consulting branch of Arthur Anderson. In 1989, the parent company split Andersen Consulting into a separate unit with many clients coming from Arthur Andersen accounting in exchange for referral payments. Andersen Consulting was highly profitable in the 1990s but grew resentful of the payments they had to make to Arthur Andersen. Also Arthur Andersen started their own consulting branch (Arthur Andersen Business Consulting) which competed directly with Andersen Consulting. As a result after arbitration, Andersen Consulting gained full independence in exchange for $1.2 billion in past payments and agreed to stop using the "Andersen" name. Andersen Consulting switched to Accenture on January 1, 2001.
Arthur Andersen however kept their consulting branch. This would lead them into the Enron scandal as the Enron used Arthur Andersen for both consulting and accounting. These two conflicted with each other as consulting advised Enron to pursue the shady accounting practices that led to its downfall. In the course of the investigation, it was uncovered that at least one manager from the accounting branch objected to the plan but was overruled and transferred off the account because the fees the consulting branch was making far exceeded the accounting branch billings.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
I dont, I fire up netflix on the TV and watch a movie from there. No need to leave the house. If I really want to I can rent a first run just released movie from the appleTV for $2.99 same price as the local rental places plus it's in HD and I dont have to go out and hope the movie is in.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
After reading this thread, it seems people are unhappy about Blockbuster late fees. However, I have a Blockbuster account, and there are NO late fees. Is this a typical case of slashdot over-reaction, or was there something in the past were Blockbuster was bilking people with late fees, then they dropped late fees as a PR move? I ask seriously because I've only been back in the United States for a couple of years, and they've always had a no late fee policy.
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.
The DVD rental store I use usually reduces the late fees for me to about $1 because I rent so much out
Maybe for you. I bought most of my movies, if you do the occasional rental there's no connection between "I saw a movie last night" and "I must return the movie". I didn't remember it until the store called and asked how long I was going to keep it, would have cost me less to buy it. So of the options buy, rent or pirate then at least rent dropped to rock bottom. I'm sure you can be anal about it and never get a late fee, but I'd rather have not go through that effort just to watch a damn movie.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
First I have to check the political donations of Blockbuster ...
Prof. Farnsworth - "Oh a lesson in not changing history from Mr I'm-My-Own-Grandpa!"
My local blockbuster kept getting smaller. I was having a harder and harder time finding the movies I wanted to rent. After years of waiting for prices to drop, I finally bought a high-def TV and was looking forward to seeing movies on it. I went to BlockBuster and couldn't find anything. I had bought an internet enabled TV, expecting that Netflix et al. would be the wave of the future. As they were online and didn't need physical media, I figured Netflix would have a HUGE selection. But they hardly had anything! Blockbusters internet pickings were pretty slim too! I couldn't find "The Quiet Man" (which I have wanted to see in high def for ages). I couldn't find Abbott and Costello films for the kids to watch. They had very few movies that were less than 10 years old. There are 80+ years of talking movies! Even if I had seen everything made since I was born I would have seen less than half of the best movies. My kids have seen even less. Why does Netflix think we only want to see the recent stuff - it's not like we've already seen everything else.
Anyway, while I would love to watch movies on my new TV, I hardly watch anything because I just can't find anything to watch. Maybe once or twice a year a new movie comes out that's worth seeing, but I can't justify a subscription service based on that.
Blockbuster should have made their whole library available on streaming video.
I often don't like the choices people make, but I like the fact that people make choices. That's why I'm a conservative.
It really is nice to receive the rental that I want to watch, but not have to worry that I have to watch it tonight before driving out of my way (a bit) to return it the next morning. Quite often, I have received a netflix disk and hung on to it for a week. Sure, it increases my per disk charge on my $8.95/mo rental charge... it's still cheaper than renting that disk for $4.00 at the rental store. It's even cheaper per disk/movie now that I can stream through my Wii or computer. My kids thoroughly enjoy being able to choose their video themselves and watching it over and over and over and then put it away for a week and then watch it again later. I don't have to worry about scratched disks; and, perhaps, it might cost me more in the long run for that particular movie, I would not have the wide variety and collection if I had to buy the movies myself that I would have using Netflix.
I just can't see how they can pay the rent with those low numbers.
I guess they can't... that's why the chapter 11.
soylentnews.org Go there to enjoy the people!
there's no connection between "I saw a movie last night" and "I must return the movie"
Wow, you can't even remember for 24 hours (or 2 days, or however long your rental is)? I don't know what to say. Perhaps I'd just suggest that, when you're done watching, instead of throwing the movie on top of your entertainment center or somewhere out of the way, perhaps you can set it with your car keys or something, so that it's very obvious to you. I expect your response will probably be "no thanks, I'd just prefer not to rent movies instead", but if you have that much trouble remembering things, then just take it as general advice.
I'm sure you can be anal about it and never get a late fee, but I'd rather have not go through that effort just to watch a damn movie.
Anal? WTF? You say that like I sit there all day saying "gotta return that movie, gotta return that movie", post notes all over the house reminding me, and have a daily checklist with an item labeled "returned rentals (if applicable)". Is it anal that I remember to put on pants before leaving the house, too?
Outside of a few hit books and DvDs they cant afford to buy much anymore in this recession. Ironically poor citizen replace their broadband and Netflix with the library, heating up demand for limited resources even more.
Apparently pretty hard, based one how many people get them, but I just don't understand it.
Seems Blockbuster didn't understand it either, judging from:
1) More than a few people here grumbling about their experiences
2) Blockbuster filing for bankruptcy.
Assuming you're not a monopoly, when your customers are complaining about what you are doing, if you want to keep them you should try to figure out how to do things better (avoid the problem), even if you think it's their fault.
Not only did I receive poor service whenever I went to their stores, but I don't rent videos anymore. I don't even watch movies anymore, actually.
Filthy, filthy copyrapists!
Perhaps you misunderstood my post. I never said I couldn't understand why someone wouldn't want to rent from a video store. I can totally see all the reasons people would prefer netflix or something similar. But my point was, if you DO rent from a video store, I can't understand why returning it on time is such an issue.
I actually visit Blockbuster *more* in the last year. Netflix just isn't appealing at all to me. A friend once made the sage observation that you could own a used DVD for just a couple bucks more than you could rent one. I want to look for and get a movie when I'm in the mood to watch one and I've been slowly building up a library of DVDs by buying used copies rather than renting. Blockbuster sometimes had a great 4 for $20 deal and I probably have about 150 DVDs now. The only thing I think competes with going into Blockbuster for me is the Netflix app my dad has (DirecTV?) that allows you to rent and watch movies right there. But, I'd still rather have the physical media.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
Mod parent up please.
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/
Not sure that it was ever a huge issue to me. The few times the videos were late though were because my wife and I would decide to rent it, then the next morning, we'd both think the other would get a chance to return it after work. If you happened to get out of work a little late and rushed to get the kids off to whatever sport/school event/scouts/etc..., you can easily forget to return the rental on time.
I received an email yesterday from Blockbuster Express within hours of this getting announced. They were very quick to try to control the fallout since they are fully owned by NCR. Here's the text of the email that they sent me.
Dear BLOCKBUSTER Express® Customer,
I hope that you're enjoying our combination of convenience, value and choice in helping you to make any night YOUR movie night. You may have heard today that the company, Blockbuster, Inc. has announced plans to enter into bankruptcy protection to restructure their finances. We wish them great success in that process. You should know, however, that the BLOCKBUSTER Express business is 100% owned and operated by NCR Corporation, a rock-solid public company that has pioneered breakthrough consumer experiences for more than 125 years. We look forward to serving up those great experiences for another 125 years and more.
Meanwhile, I want to assure you that we are working hard every day to make your movie-rental experience with BLOCKBUSTER Express even better in a number of ways, including:
* Opening new locations nearby that make it more convenient to rent and return movies
* Adding more copies of more movies to rent at your local BLOCKBUSTER Express kiosks
* Preserving value, with most titles available to rent for only $1 per night
In addition, to thank you for being a great customer, we are starting our weekend promotion today, 1 day early. Rent any two movies and get the third one on us, just use code THXBBX. So, go ahead make tonight a movie night, and enjoy!
In the meantime, if you have any questions, comments or suggestions for how we can continue to improve your experience, please let us know by e-mailing service@blockbusterexpress.com.
Sincerely,
Signature
Justin Hotard
Vice President & General Manager
NCR Entertainment
In Canada and Spain I've noticed an increase of automated DVD rental kiosks. They are far cheaper than Blockbuster and usually located in much more convenient places.
Oddly enough, when I pulled up this article, Google Ads served up a Netflix ad right next to it. Go figure.
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
http://www.theonion.com/video/historic-blockbuster-store-offers-glimpse-of-how-m,14233/
Blockbuster is just like the mom and pop video stores they did not adapt with the time people will pay for convenience. Netflix does as well as it does because of streaming and door to door delivery of DVD'S. On demand is the same way I watch the movie and never have to return it in 24 it returns it self pretty much. Plus with the rising cost of fuel I will pay the extra dollar for on demand so I don't have to spend the 10 dollars in gas drive to just blockbuster. I can watch movies in all weather and not have to compete with driving in bad weather. These are a lot of the reasons why blockbuster is failing.
http://www.thetechnologygeek.org
Ditto. In the past 5 years, I've gone from 1.5Mbps to 20Mbps, and I pay less now than I did then. 40Mbps service is starting to roll out in my area too. Virtually all my TV and movie viewing is done online. We got rid of cable two years ago. The way I see it, this is the future, and I like it.
20 years ago now Blockbuster screwed me on a late fee, and I've never rented from them since, costing them many tens of thousands in lost business. Apparantly I'm not the only one who doesn't like them.
Netflix on the other hand I find perfect, and have no real desire to move to their streaming model, either.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
Lots of them now have the bigger redbox machines with two or three disc units hooked to the selection one.
This.
I don't think it was Netflix that killed BB, I think it was Redbox. The draw of a brick and mortar video store (to me) is that you go there, pick out a movie, and watch it that night. Netflix is that you set up a giant honking list of stuff you want to see at some point. Sure, with Netflix's, and others, streaming services you can get a similar effect at home. That I suspect there will be a place for Redbox, and regular video stores, for some time, probably until we actually have saturated, reliable, and appropriate bandwidth (Enough to properly stream a movie at the current HD level, whatever that is at the time).
Do Or Do Not, There Is No Spoon, There Is Only Zuul. Everything in the above post is probably opinion.
You mentioning Blockbuster carrying smaller indie films and some hard to find stock got me thinking about how they were the only place in town to rent anime. For years and years, until Ghost in the Shell was released (which was a bit more mainstream than the average anime), that was the only game in town if you wanted to rent Akira, Ninja Scroll, Black Magic M-66, Vampire Hunter D, Bubblegum Crisis, etc. That, or you had to go to Suncoast Video and buy them for $30 each (or more). It was nice while it lasted, but Netflix is the new king of the castle.
Interesting and informative. Mod up!
I can comment on the Singapore GP.
The problem is that F1 sells the exclusive US rights to FOX/Speed and we get stuck with shitty coverage. Same for MotoGP/SBK. They of course do this because US broadcasters aren't willing to pay for rights unless they don't have to compete on merit with anyone else.
I get the British Eurosport broadcasts via torrents. Yes, I know, I'm violating copyright ... but I'd happily NOT do so if I had the option to pay for it. I can not legally acquire these broadcasts in the US, period - they even prevent you from buying the streaming based on IP-Geo.
I can't buy the better product at any price. I'm not watching the local broadcast - something that is, for sake of argument, free provided I have basic cable or access to a local sports bar. Instead I am violating copyright. There's something very wrong with that.
So when were people required to put on pants before leaving the house?
No thanks, too much hassle. I will just stick to not wearing them.
This is Slashdot - are you sure you didn't mean
"I'll stick to not leaving the house"?
Have you considered that you might have ADD? In my opinion, most memory problems are really symptoms of attention issues. In particular, attention difficulties compromise both the formation and timely retrieval of memories, which is what you describe. It's not that you don't possess the memory of renting a movie or the need to return it, but individuals with attention problems must deliberately shift their attention to reflect on past events, or the memory won't be recalled. For many people the process of recall is automatic -- their thoughts naturally and frequently cover the past, present and future, but people with attention disorders must make a deliberate effort to focus on these things. It doesn't mean they're stupid, and in fact, hyper-focused individuals are often excellent problem solvers. The catch is that without a more "normal" thought process that many people take for granted, certain other items get ignored.
While medication can help, it really requires lifestyle changes to cope with successfully. I've found that an effective solution is to give myself *one task* to perform habitually (like putting on pants, as the sibling poster so gently and subtly referenced), and that task is to deliberately review everything I need to bring, need to do, and *might* need to bring or do before leaving the house. It takes a lot longer to get out the door, but IMO it's a small price to pay for not being inundated with all of the various consequences for failing to remember things. It helps that I have a job that's not obsessive about people arriving precisely at the stroke of nine, though that too was a deliberate choice. I still overlook things of course -- pretty much everyone other than LordKronos does -- but overall things are much better than they used to be.
Though I still don't rent movies with deadlines for return. The risk/reward is just not worth it for me.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
The draw of a brick and mortar video store (to me) is that you go there, pick out a movie, and watch it that night.
I agree that this is the best appeal of brick and mortar, but in my case If I want to see and rent something that night, I will get it from Amazon's VOD service and start streaming it within 30 minutes.
I have netflix. A lot of my favorite stuff is streamed from them (Mythbusters and Dr. Who for example). I only get one DVD per month, but when I get something, I rip it and send it back the next day.
I have TiVo and Playon -- Playon allows me to get Hulu and other shows (such as from TNT which has my wife's favorite show, The Closer) on my TV via our WII.
I find all of this more than enough to overcome that same night gratification.
No paying for cable this way, and no Blockbuster late fees.
http://collegefootballlivestream.com/
Took me 5 minutes to find this. Googled "oregon vs arizona streaming"
Yes, you need a PC hooked up to your TV. Which I think every geek should do, it's not that hard. My wife and I are canceling our cable TV, landline, and internet package from Comcast, and getting 25/25 FIOS from Frontier (formerly Verizon) hooked up tomorrow. It's going to be all streaming for us - if you do a web search like the one I performed above (i.e. "[show you want to watch] streaming") you can find just about every show these days available somewhere for streaming. We also have a Netflix subscription, and watch streaming shows and movies all the time. We also have an antenna on our roof that looks like it's 30 years old, and I get 26 crystal clear digital channels for free, most of them HD. I just hooked it up directly to my HDTV - and once I get an ATSC tuner for my Media Center, we'll be able to record HD live TV shows for free. See ya overpriced cable TV!
There's already an Apple TV. You have to buy content, not subscribe to content. I prefer subscription to ownership, as most things I'll watch are live sporting/music events that I don't need to own. You can rent content on the Apple store, but I haven't seen any sporting events on there.
I find the Speed coverage to be pretty good. It's no worse than the Eurosport coverage. I thought all the TV coverage for F1 races were bound by the host nation cameras anyways?
Your lack of empathy doesn't make a valid argument. Rather than assuming they are wrong and looking to support your world view, perhaps you should accept that, for whatever reason, some people aren't like you. There's nothing wrong with it. And arguments from their point of view are just as valid as yours. I've noticed the problem is almost always with people who rent multiple movies. Often they don't return any until they've seen them all (when you'd probably assert it would make sense to rent the one you wanted that night, then pick up the next when returning the previous). Or they'll hold on to one they didn't see until they have time, not wanting to return an unseen movie, and end up paying purchase costs for a rental that they sometimes don't even watch. It's not logical. But it's no less valid than your way, and is a legitimate reason to generate late fees and shun rentals because of it.
Learn to love Alaska
I hardly had late fees either because I have OCD about timeliness and being late, but I personally dislike the threat or having to worry about having to around and go like this: "Oh. This DVD is due back tomorrow, now I have to make an extra trip out of the home so I don't get hit with a late fee."
With Netflix I can go instead "Well... I would go down to the post office today but I don't have any errands to run so instead I'll wait til Friday when I was going to go out for groceries since I'm not constrained by any dead line".
See what happens here... People weren't exactly upset about the late fees themselves but rather the fact they often had to make that trip at an arbitrary time frame. Its one less stop you have to worry about. Good for saving gas as well.
"I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
-Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
Exactly. I actually just came back from returning DVDs to the library. I didn't even think about late fees once. It caused so much heart ache to have to make a special trip just to return the DVDs. I never really felt that way, when returning DVDs with Zip.ca. The truth is that if you have to go to the post office when you get your groceries, then you probably live further away from it, than I do from the public library. I could walk back and forth in about 8 minutes. Despite having weeks to watch the movies, I just dreaded returning the videos.
I bet if every organization offered a return envelop, for mailing, and somehow factored it into the price, then they'd have much happier customers, even if the total price is more expensive.
testing out my trending skills
I've never seen late fees when it comes to video rentals, in Germany we always pay when returning the video so they bill us for every day we had it, no matter how long that was. Maybe that has to do with better enforceability of collections though.
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
To be fair, the F1 coverage isn't terrible with the exception of the 4 races that are shown on Fox with no pre-race. And the formula 1 debrief show is well done.
MotoGP/SBK is another story - no practice, no qualifying, no post-race, and they don't even broadcast SBK in HD. On top of that the commentary is just poor, with the announcers having little knowledge of the sport (often struggling to wven pronounce the rider's names never mind knowing anything about their racing history). The eurosport coverage is leaps and bounds beyond this, and includes all the thing listed above that speed can't be bothered to show.
Another sad story of countless of employees losing their jobs when their home blockbuster store shuts down. That's only going to mean more trouble for everyone. The loss of the movie business is bad in itself but now we're putting thousands and thousands of more people onto the streets looking for work. Not good. Not good at all.
Not a single soul has mentioned what stopped me from using Block Buster. They initiated a corporate policy about 10 years ago where you were charged a late fee even if the movie was returned the same night. It was your word against theirs as most of us dropped the movie into s slot in the door either on the way to work or in the evening after watching it. It was just plain highway robbery. After about five of these "late fees" I told my family we would never use Block Buster again. And we haven't. I'm a conservative capitalist but I think greed had a big hand in killing Block Buster.
Since when is "public safety" the root password to the Constitution?