End of the line for Blockbuster?

[LegendKiller]

It was kinda funny, during the HD DVD vs BR wars, people claimed BBI was the greatest company in the world for only supporting BR. I argued that they'd eventually be going out of business, while others claimed that Netflix could never hope to wipe them out.

Funny how that worked out.

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: LegendKiller
It was kinda funny, during the HD DVD vs BR wars, people claimed BBI was the greatest company in the world for only supporting BR. I argued that they'd eventually be going out of business, while others claimed that Netflix could never hope to wipe them out.

Funny how that worked out.

Blockbuster was written off long ago. I remember people claiming their demise for at least the last dozen years. I'm not saying that these people were wrong. Blockbuster has struggled on, but just barely. The age of internet downloads, easy copying of DVDs, and mail order movies combined with sky high commerical leases was bound to do them in.

You did bring up something that has humored me over the last couple of months. Blu-Ray appears to be the kiss of death. Sony's profits have tanked. So has Blockbuster. Most movie studios (or their owner) aren't doing well. True, the bad economy is hurting everyone. But I can't think of anyone touched by Blu-Ray that isn't doing horribly financially. Sony way overpaid their bribes to get exclusive movie rights. Blockbuster has to cut their floor space drastically to carry duplicates of every form of movie. Movie studios have to put out multiple versions at added costs with no added sales. Etc. The whole HD battle left no winners.

 

[rockyct]

Originally posted by: destrekor
I don't know, but they just offered up no due dates for Total Access members for in-store exchanges.

It's just a sneaky way of taking away one of your movies out at a time. Basically, they don't send the next movie in your queue until you return the store rented movie back because the movie you rent at a store counts toward the three (or whatever) out at a time.

I do like Blockbuster total access for the reasons people have mentioned here. I enjoy going to the store and finding a movie I haven't seen and then renting it on the spot. This new change in policy is pissing me off though because it's just a very shady way of decreasing benefits disguised as something good for the customer.

 

[SoulAssassin]

Forget buying stock, go rent a ton of movies and never bring them back when they go under. 🙂

 

[rh71]

changing times... B&M stores going everyday... I blame the terrorists... and internets.

 

[ponyo]

Originally posted by: ivan2
option # 1 - convert them all to sex shops.

That's the best plan I've seen. I've never seen a sex shop go out of business.

 

[SSSnail]

I can save Blockbuster. Porns.

 

[ponyo]

Originally posted by: SSSnail
I can save Blockbuster. Porns.

You and I are on the same page. We should buy Blockbuster out of bankruptcy and take it private and convert all the stores to porn video and sex toy shop.

 

[SSSnail]

Originally posted by: Naustica

Originally posted by: SSSnail
I can save Blockbuster. Porns.

You and I are on the same page. We should buy Blockbuster out of bankruptcy and take it private and convert all the stores to porn video and sex toy shop.

Not that drastic, but a prons section will do their business good. Stupid prudes with fake morality.

 

[Poulsonator]

Originally posted by: Queasy
Well, the funny thing is I'm actually considering moving back to Blockbuster from Netflix. Netflix's turn-around time on movies has been good, the streaming service is nice, and the price is alright. BUT, it has been damn near impossible for me to get a new release. Everything that has been released recently and is even mildly popular is stuck in Short Wait to Very Long Wait status. And when I time my returns to get back to the Netflix distribution center on the day of new releases (Tuesday), I never a get a new release even when it is at the top of my queue.

I currently have 10 movies in Short Wait to Very Long Wait status at the top of my queue. Compare that to Blockbuster where I could waltz into the store every Tuesday and exchange my movies for that week's new releases.

A buddy of mine complained about that as well, and he switched to Blockbuster and has had better success.

I have never EVER had this happen to me, though. I send mine back so they arrive on Saturday, thus guaranteeing me the new release. They ship to me on Monday and it arrives on Tuesday, the actual release date. It's worked like this for me ever since I signed up years ago.

I suppose it's your distribution center. My friend is in Boston, so I can understand somewhat, with the dense population.

 

[shortylickens]

Originally posted by: effowe
The way those assholes charged me ridiculous fees and prices on their movies / games makes me glad to see them go under.

I'm never glad about a business going down, its bad.
BUT, they did it to themselves. Their prices suck and they have a rotten selection.
Ever since Netflix came out they've been dying a slow death. This economy is testing who's really efficient, and it aint Blockbuster. They got too used to charging ridiculous prices and making insane profits, now they have to face reality.

I think they'll probably just merge with Hollywood or get bought out by Netflix. Perhaps then they'll just close the storefronts and become distribution centers.

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Originally posted by: deepred98
buy buy buy

You mean bye bye bye

 

[Queasy]

Read about this earlier today but Ars does a better job than I could of summarizing the story. In a nutshell, Blockbuster's near term future looks doubtful.

Blockbuster may be counting down the days until it's forced to close its retail stores, the company revealed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week. In the filing, the company revealed that it may not be able to meet the terms of a recent $250 million loan, and that there was "substantial doubt" about its ability to continue as a business in the near future.

Blockbuster's revolving and term loan agreement was amended last week, allowing its $250 million loan to mature at the end of September 2010. However, the company said in its SEC filing (summary) that its lenders won't fund the loan unless Blockbuster meets specific conditions, which may or may not happen. If the lenders decide to back out or if Blockbuster isn't able to keep things going even with the loan, the company will find itself up the proverbial creek without a paddle.

The ability to walk into a Blockbuster on a whim and rent a movie will be lost if the company goes under. In the 1980s and 1990s, the company was a true juggernaut, putting scores of mom-and-pop video rental shops out of business. For the past several years, however, the company has struggled to stay relevant amid heavy competition from the likes of Netflix, the iTunes Store, Hulu, Amazon's Video on Demand, and the plethora of other video services that have popped up. Instead of innovating on its own, Blockbuster has been stuck playing catch-up. And its staple $4.99 in-store rentals aren't so attractive in light of the $1 rentals available at the Redbox kiosks spreading across the country.

In November of 2008, the company delivered a set-top box called MediaPoint, which is meant to stream movies from Blockbuster's online library. This past January, Blockbuster announced that it would begin slapping its logo on CinemaNow's online movie service, allowing Blockbuster to deliver content over the Internet to a "wide assortment of home and mobile electronic devices." And, just last month, Blockbuster announced that its On Demand service would be coming to the TiVo. This would have been a great announcement to make several years ago, but with Amazon's Video on Demand service and now Netflix available on the TiVo, Blockbuster isn't breaking any new ground; it's just late to the party.

It's clear that Blockbuster is having trouble keeping up, and it continues to lose money in the process. We may be approaching the time when Blockbuster takes Circuit City's hand and joins CompUSA at the great strip mall in the sky.