Another form of media consumption about to die?

[wickedwritah]

This item suggests Blockbuster's illness is terminal.
http://www.switched.com/2007/11/05/blockbuster-heading-for-the-dustbins-of-history/

This blog entry, off which the story is based, says Blockbuster still has some fight in it.
http://crave.cnet.com/8300-1_105-1.html?search=blockbus

I can't remember the last time I went into Blockbuster, then again I'm not a movie guy.

 

[93Devil]

Netflix has destroyed the market. I actually like the idea of returning my mailed DVDs to Blockbuster, but the wife really likes Netflix. So Mama needs to stay happy. Cause if she ain't happy, 93Devil will not be happy.

Netflix's turnaround is amazing when mailing something in and getting it back, and their DVDs normally are scratch free.

Netfix has also crushed most mom and pop stores and their scratched DVDs..

 

[Ace]

Here is another case of computers/digital media completely changing a business.

Ten years ago Blockbuster seemed like a sure thing. Five years ago it was clear they needed to change very fast or die.

 

[Bob Cook]

I have a Blockbuster gift certificate that has been sitting in my wallet for about a year because we never go in there. In our case, it's not Netflix, but Comcast OnDemand that's keeping us out. Most of the time we go in there for the kids, but there's more than enough there to keep them happy if they want a movie or a television episode.

The only video stores that are going to be around in a few years are those that focus on cult stuff or older movies -- the stuff that doesn't appear on OnDemand -- and have a good mail-order business. Then again, if those movies are now available for download, then those stores are cooked, too.

 

[imjustagirl2]

I love Blockbuster because I do Blockbuster online. Yesterday, I returned a mailed-to-me movie to the store and picked up season 1, disc 2 of Dexter. While I watch these four eps, they'll mail my movie back for me, and I'll have the next one by Friday, just in time for me to return Dexter.

Way better than Netflix, because I have a Blockbuster less than a mile from my house.

 

[imjustagirl2]

Also:

http://www.switched.com/2007/07/24/netflix-subscriptions-drop-despite-price-cut/


That being said, I much prefer DVDs. I don't have a laptop of my own, just a work one, and we can't download anything on to it. I'd rather sit on my couch and watch movies. If I want to watch it on my computer...it plays DVDs.

 

[93Devil]

I love Blockbuster because I do Blockbuster online. Yesterday, I returned a mailed-to-me movie to the store and picked up season 1, disc 2 of Dexter. While I watch these four eps, they'll mail my movie back for me, and I'll have the next one by Friday, just in time for me to return Dexter.

Way better than Netflix, because I have a Blockbuster less than a mile from my house.

Having a Blockbuster close is the key.

I have one close, and the wife still won't do it.

We split the Netflix, two for her and two for me.

 

[finishthehat]

Yeah, if a Blockbuster is close, it's great when you can trade a mailed-to-you disc for one in the store.

 

[Frank_Ridgeway]

Blockbuster's brick-and-mortar stores may be history soon, but I wouldn't bet against the company. It recently bought Movielink, a movie download service. Netflix also is preparing for the day when movie rentals and purchases will be primarily by download -- it offers varying numbers of hours of free broadband viewing, depending on which traditional DVDs-by-mail service you have. They're facing the same problem that newspapers face -- an old-media delivery system in an age of instant gratification, but still at a point when it would not yet be advisable to just pull the plug on the old way because the market has not yet caught up. But numerous companies are trying to find an easier way to get downloaded movies from your computer to your TV without burning it to a DVD. The problem, too, is that Hollywood is not licensing a lot of older movies for download.

 

[Angola!]

Here is my problem with the downloaded dvd: I don't want to watch movies on the tiny screen on my computer. I want to watch it on my 40-inch HDTV flat screen or on my roommates 80-something inch HDTV screen. That is why I don't necessarily think movie stores will go out of business.

 

[BYH]

Hard to muster any tears for Blockbuster when it killed the mom and pop video stores in the '90s.

Suck a raw egg, Wayne.

 

[Bill Brasky]

I thought I read something in the Wall Street Journal recently about how Blockbuster was doing real well with the mail business...that they had caught up with Netflix. Plus, the advantage was that you could go into stores and get a quick turnaround on movies.
I don't think they're dead because they own so much real estate...they can probably sell off locations a few at a time to keep the money rolling in -- or to pay for those software engineers that are perfecting the download on demand services, so you can get "Knocked Up" to pop on your big screen in no time flat.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

I'm sure Huizenga will sell off all his properties, then come back and win the DVD rental biz all over again in a few years.

 

[DanOregon]

Netflix is good but I think RedBox is going to do even more damage. $1 a night and the vending machines are located in spots where it will save people a trip.

 

[novelist_wannabe]

I'm sure Huizenga will sell off all his properties, then come back and win the DVD rental biz all over again in a few years.

Beat me to it. Marlins fans, I'm sure, can't wait for Huizenga to die a slow, painful death.

I overheard the manager of my local bb talking to someone about this several weeks ago. Seems he had already been told the store would be closing inside something like two years. I've not had a chance to ask him about it again.

 

[DanOregon]

Blockbuster seems like it might be able to go all on-line and sell a three-at-a-time membership for Netflix's two-at-a time.

 

[wickedwritah]

I thought Wayne dumped all his holdings in Blockbuster when it got sold to Paramount or Viacom (can't remember who the actual purchasing firm was) years ago?

 

[KYSportsWriter]

Netflix is good but I think RedBox is going to do even more damage. $1 a night and the vending machines are located in spots where it will save people a trip.

RedBox is great. If I rent any movie, I'll go to a McDonalds and check to see if they have it there. If not, I probably don't rent it because I hate Blockbuster and the Movie Gallery we have in my hometown sucks.

 

[BYH]

RedBox is at McDonalds??

I've seen what must be RedBox displays at supermarkets and stuff. But never a McDonalds.

Wild. Remember when it was a big deal to rent videos at the supermarket?

 

[imjustagirl2]

I've never heard of, nor seen, a RedBox.