Pulse2 Technology and Social Media News » Blockbuster Inc.

Dish Network Buying Blockbuster For $320 Million In Bankruptcy Auction

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 01:14:37 +0000

DISH Network Corp. (NASDAQ:DISH) has acquired Blockbuster Inc. in a $320 million bankruptcy auction. Dish Network outbid at least 3 other bidders including billionaire investors Carl Icahn. The deal includes over 1,700 Blockbuster stores and the rights to stream BLockbuster’s movies over the Internet.

This is Dish is expecting to pay $228 million in cash, $100 million of receivables and cash, and a rental library estimated to be worth around $175 million. Blockbuster will use the money to pay creditors, which includes Carl Icahn and other bondholders.

Around the time that Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy in September, they had about 1.3 million subscribers for its monthly or annual services. Netflix has about 20 million subscribers for their mail-order delivery. Dish is expecting to continually close Blockbuster’s stores.

[Reuters]

Verizon Drops Price Of Samsung Galaxy Tab To $499.99

Amit Chowdhry — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 12:49:35 +0000

Verizon has dropped the price of the Samsung Galaxy Tab to $499. After buying the tablet, you will also get $60 worth of free movie rentals through the Blockbuster Media Hub application. Now that there has been a price drop, will you buy one? Let us know in the comments. [Droid-Life]

Blockbuster On Demand Available On Over 100 Devices

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 04:06:25 +0000

Blockbuster has announced that the BLOCKBUSTER On Demand service is now available on over 100 devices. These devices include smartphones, Blu-ray players, TVs, tablets, and digital media adapters. BLOCKBUSTER On Demand is the company’s response to Netflix’s video streaming services. Below is the full press release:

BLOCKBUSTER On Demand® Hits Milestone: Now on More than 100 Devices

Additional Blu-ray players, TVs, Mobile Phones and Digital Media Adapters Expand Access to Latest Movies

DALLAS, Nov. 30, 2010 /PRNewswire/ — This month, Blockbuster hit a milestone. Its BLOCKBUSTER On Demand® service is now on more than 100 devices—including Blu-ray players, televisions, smartphones, DVRs and digital media adapters—giving consumers the widest variety of options for instant access to new movies on demand.

“We are thrilled to have reached this milestone. Making our service available on more than 100 devices means we’re bringing BLOCKBUSTER On Demand into more living rooms and to more on-the-go viewers this year, providing our customers with the ability to watch new movies anywhere and any way they want,” said Bruce Anderson, BLOCKBUSTER On Demand’s senior vice president and general manager. “We have many great partners to thank for helping us continue to deliver premium and classic entertainment to our customers in easy and convenient ways. The addition of these devices and our growing list of partners is an example of the confidence these consumer electronics manufacturers find in the BLOCKBUSTER On Demand service.”

BLOCKBUSTER On Demand allows movie enthusiasts to find and watch new movies on the same day they become available on DVD or Blu-ray for no monthly fees, and months or years before the movies become available on certain subscription services. The service is also available on PCs and laptops so that consumers can order their favorite feature films online. Users can even rent or buy movies on one device, such as a smartphone, and watch it another device—like a television or Blu-ray player.
The goal is seamless integration across the different devices, ranging from the entry-level to the high-end.

“By providing access to the newest movies across the widest range of electronic devices, we are helping customers get the movies they want any time, any place, and any way they want it,” Anderson said. “We’ll continue to work with our partners to bring entertainment to the masses in ways that meet their lifestyle needs.”
Recently, the Samsung Galaxy Tab hit stores and is one of the latest devices to offer the BLOCKBUSTER On Demand service. It holds 32GB of expandable storage and the 7-inch screen is perfect for watching movies on the go. Launching the same day, the Samsung Continuum smartphone offers a dual screen “ticker” display allowing users to watch movies uninterrupted while still viewing texts, tweets and emails.

Additionally, several other Samsung devices have recently launched, including Blu-ray players, home theater systems and the Samsung Fascinate smartphone—all offering the BLOCKBUSTER On Demand service. “The partnership between Blockbuster and Samsung brings two top brands in home entertainment together so that movie lovers get instant access to the newest movies on state-of-the-art devices—in their homes or on the go,” Anderson said.

The latest Samsung devices to provide access to BLOCKBUSTER On Demand include:
Blu-ray Players: BD-C8000, BD-C5900, BD-C6800, BD-C7900
Home Theater (HT) Systems: C-5930W, C-6900W, C-6600, C-9950W
Mobile devices: Samsung Fascinate, Samsung Continuum, Samsung Galaxy Tab

In addition, the following devices added support for the BLOCKBUSTER On Demand this month. Specific product details are available at www.blockbuster.com/devices.
Western Digital’s WD TV® Live Plus™ media player allows users to play digital content from their home network and internet on their television in Full-HD 1080p.
Funai’s PB750FX1 portable Blu-ray disc player offers 180 degree rotation function and free style LCD display.
Memorex’s MVBD2535 Blu-ray player offers built-in Wi-Fi access to make streaming movies or music simple and enables users to up convert their standard DVDs to near-HD quality.

OPPO Blu-ray BDP-93 Blu-ray disc player features high-definition picture and supports BonusVIEW to enable “picture-in-picture” and audio functions for watching commentary while the film is in play.

Toshiba’s BDX3000 3D Wi-Fi Blu-ray player offers DTS® HD Master Audio Essential™ surround sound.

Already on the market, Western Digital’s TV Live Plus Networked HD media players offer the full-HD 1080p experience and allows you to play media from your home network and the Internet on your TV

About Blockbuster Inc.
Blockbuster Inc. is a leading global provider of rental and retail movie and game entertainment. The company provides customers with convenient access to media entertainment anywhere, any way they want it – whether in-store, by-mail, through vending kiosks or digitally to their homes and mobile devices. With a highly recognized brand and a library of more than 125,000 movie and game titles, Blockbuster leverages its multichannel presence to serve nearly 47 million global customers annually. The company may be accessed worldwide at www.blockbuster.com.

Blockbuster Files Bankruptcy, Plans To Restructure

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 21:26:22 +0000

Blockbuster has filed for bankruptcy, but they’re not ready to throw in the towel yet. A group of bondholders and hedge funds that is being led by Carl Icahn has signed off on a restructuring deal that will give them controlling stake in the company that took a huge market share hit from Netflix.

Blockbuster plans to offer more digital content, especially on mobile devices. Blockbuster has about 3,000 U.S. stores still open and their businesses will continue to operate during the bankruptcy process, but I would not be surprised if hundreds of stores will be shut down soon.

Blockbuster was founded in 1985 as the VCR was gaining popularity. Blockbuster employs 25,000 people and filed for Chapter 11 in a bankruptcy court in Manhattan.

Blockbuster will cut their debt to about $100 million from about $1 billion. Icahn and the hedge funds hold 80% of Blockbuster’s senior notes and agreed to support the new plan. Icahn and the hedge funds will be providing $125 million of debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing for Blockbuster to continue operating during the bankruptcy process.

NCR Orders Over 500 Blockbuster Kiosks

Amit Chowdhry — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 18:09:08 +0000

Shortly after Blockbuster (NYSE:BBI) was delisted, NCR made a deal with QuickTrip to have over 500 Blockbuster Express kiosks placed in almost all of their convenience stores.

While this contract won’t be a game changer for Blockbuster, it still keeps them alive to compete against Coinstar’s Redbox. Coinstar’s revenue increased 70% in the last quarter.

The world is in a very different place when it comes to movie rentals. Back in 1985 when Blockbuster first started, there was no way that they could have predicted people will be able to download movies from iTunes or from their TVs themselves.

Then came Netflix and Redstar which made movie rentals even more convenient than walking into a movie rental store. Plus I remember every time I walked into a Blockbuster and rented a movie for a few days, I couldn’t help but feel ripped off for paying over $4-$5 for one movie.

[Fool.com]

Blockbuster Being Delisted From NYSE

Amit Chowdhry — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 15:24:55 +0000

Blockbuster Inc. (NYSE:BBI), trading at $0.18 and sitting on a market cap of $38.69 million is going to be delisted from the NYSE. Blockbuster failed to get shareholder votes on proposals that were designed to help the company comply with the NYSE requirements. Blockbuster did not get enough votes from shareholders to agree on a reverse stock split and a combination of Class A and Class B shares. There was also a low voter turnout. The only good news that Blockbuster announced is that debt-holders agreed to give Blockbuster a six-week extension for paying back $42.4 million interest and principal payment on a $630 million senior secured debt. [NewTeeVee]

Blockbuster Signs Deal With Fox and Sony

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 01:28:03 +0000

Blockbuster has signed deals with Fox and Sony. The deal is very similar to a deal that Blockbuster already has signed with Warner. Blockbuster’s deal with Fox, Sony, and Warner ensures that they will be able to rent new titles on the day they are released along with mail orders.

Blockbuster will also get favorable payment terms from the studios. Blockbuster has a plan to lower operating costs by about $200 million too. The movie studios made deals with Redbox and Netflix to allow new movies only after 28 days from the release date. [TechCrunch]

Carl Icahn Unloads Tons of Blockbuster Stock

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 08:36:00 +0000

Carl Ichan has sold off most of his stock in Blockbuster Inc. this week. Icahn sold off almost all of his Class A common stock with a price of about $0.26 each. The sales of the Class A stock was worth about $3.4 million. He bought it the stock for over $100 million years ago.

Icahn also sold off his holdings of the Class B stock, cashing out about $241,000. He suffered a 98% loss on that investment. Icahn owns about $38 million of Blockbuster in the form of convertible preferred shares. This could be converted into 7.4 million class A shares.

Today, Blockbuster has to make a $43 million payment on senior secured notes. The company may have to file for bankruptcy soon. [WSJ]

Blockbuster Store Employee Stabs Himself In An Attempt To Avoid Work

Amit Chowdhry — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:02:36 +0000

Aaron Siebers did not want to go into work at Blockbuster the other day. So what does he do? He stabs himself and tells co-workers that some skinheads tried to rob the store. Siebers should have known that he was under surveillance. There was no actual robbery, only a terrible plot hatching. Siebers ended up confessing and was rushed to a hospital nearby. Who would have though that working at Blockbuster would cause someone to go nearly Seppuku on themselves?

Blockbuster On Demand Now Available On A TiVo Near You

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:48:02 +0000

The On Demand service from Blockbuster Inc. (NYSE:BBI) has launched on TiVo box devices. The Blockbuster service is compatible with the Series2, Series3, TiVo HD, and the TiVo HD XL DVR system. The rentals will range from about $2.99-$3.99. The classics will be $2.99 and new releases will be $3.99.

“Blockbuster nights are synonymous with family and fun, something that goes perfectly with the TiVo experience,” stated TiVo SVP of Sales and Marketing Joe Miller. “By bringing Blockbuster’s content direct to TiVo subscribers, we show once again that TiVo offers much more choice and convenience for our customers compared to other DVR offerings. We are very pleased to say that customers can now walk into a participating BLOCKBUSTER store to purchase TiVo DVRs and that together both companies have succeeded in bringing even more entertainment direct to the living room.”