Tag Archives: Blockbuster Inc.
Blockbuster To Shut Down 960 Stores By EOY 2010
Blockbuster is not having a good year. About 18% of their stores are unprofitable so they plan to close 960 stores by EOY 2010. Of those 960 stores, 685 are shutting down this year and another 275 the year after. And those aren’t the only stores, Blockbuster may have to end up shutting down. An SEC filing indicates that Blockbuster may have to shut down about 1,560 locations.
To compensate shutting down a large number of stores, Blockbuster will be expanding their kiosks and Total Access subscriber base. Blockbuster also plans to launch their OnDemand service on as many connective devices as possible. Blockbuster currently has 7,000 stores.
Blockbuster currently has 497 kiosks and they plan to launch 2,500 units by the end of 2009. By 2010, they plan to have 10,000 kiosks in grocery stores and fast food chains to actively compete against Redbox.
Categories Blockbuster, Blockbuster Inc.
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Blockbuster OnDemand Makes Its Way On To TiVo
Blockbuster announced earlier this week that they have partnered with TiVo to make Blockbuster’s OnDemand service available through TiVo. In return, Blockbuster will promote TiVo DVRs at their retail stores. Blockbuster OnDemand will be available on TiVo’s Series3, TiVo HD, and TiVO HD XL boxes.
“We are excited to be teaming with TiVo, the company that created the DVR, to make Blockbuster’s entertainment content readily available to their millions of subscribers,” stated Blockbuster Chairman and CEO Jim Keyes. “Ultimately, our vision is to work with TiVo so that their subscribers can access movies not only through our OnDemand service but also from our stores and through our by-mail service as well. Regardless of a film’s availability – through VOD or on DVD – we want to work with TiVo to provide their subscribers unprecedented access to movie content.”
[via Blockbuster PR]
Categories Blockbuster, Blockbuster Inc., TiVo
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Blockbuster Launches Service To Download Movies
Blockbuster Inc. (NYSE:BBI) is constantly battling with the nimble Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX). Blockbuster has been trying several strategic moves in an effort to regain investor confidence. These moves includes setting up a mail order rental service and making an offer to acquire Circuit City. Blockbuster’s stock price is continuously dwindling and now their market cap is a mere $229 million.
Blockbuster’s next move is a movie and TV show direct download service. Anyone that signs up for 25 movies in advance for the cost of $99 will receive a free MediaPoint Digital Media Player. The Digital Media Player will allow users to directly download movies and TV shows and watch them on a computer or TV.
Movie rentals are $1.99 and the movies are DVD quality. The MediaPoint player has an HDMI output connection for crystal clear video enthusiasts.
“The MediaPoint digital player, featuring BLOCKBUSTER ONDEMAND, is entertainment made easy. We are bringing Blockbuster, and the thousands of movies in our digital library, straight to customers’ televisions,” stated Blockbuster Chairman and CEO Jim Keyes. “The player is simple to use, delivers DVD quality video, and there’s no monthly subscription commitment. We are delighted to team with 2Wire to give consumers this great entertainment product.”
Categories Blockbuster, Blockbuster Inc.
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Blockbuster Revenue Drops 5.7%; Focusing On Membership Gain
Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) pulled the rug out from underneath where Blockbuster Inc. (NYSE:BBI) was standing these last couple years. Netflix, the Los Gatos, Calif.-based online movie rental company, boasts 6.3 million subscribers and a library of 70,000 movies.
Based on an e-mail survey I received from Netflix a couple days ago, Netflix is also continuously finding ways to improve their transportation supply-chain. The e-mail survey asked me when I returned The Rundown starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Sean William Scott (a.k.a. “Stifler”).
Dear Amit,
Thank you for your recent return of The Rundown. Please tell us when you mailed back this movie by clicking on the appropriate link below.
* I mailed the movie Thursday, Nov 01, 2007
* I mailed the movie Wednesday, Oct 31, 2007
* I mailed the movie Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007
* I mailed the movie Monday, Oct 29, 2007
* I mailed the movie before Monday, Oct 29, 2007
My lazy side appreciates having movies brought to my door. There are three factors that I use to determine where my business goes between Netflix and Blockbuster. Two of them are price and speed. The third reason is the user interface. Netflix’s UI is a lot more friendly because they utilize AJAX-like tools to recommend movies and rate movies.
When Blockbuster released their third quarter financial results a couple days ago, shareholders of the company may have questioned how sustainable the company’s current business model is.
Jim Keyes, Blockbuster’s Chairman and CEO responded by providing a glass half-full perspective of the situation:
During each month this quarter, over 20 million customers around the world used the BLOCKBUSTER(R) brand to satisfy their needs for media entertainment, and that customer base presents us with a tremendous opportunity.
Keyes added:
Our goal is to continue to increase our membership base by providing even more ways for customers to get the entertainment they want through our stores, through the mail and through new technologies.
In my opinion, to increase membership, you do not close 526 stores in one year alone and do not pull the plug on the Total Access program. You increase membership by function as good as Netflix’s, reduce prices, and give a further incentive for its current members to stay. Another potential form of revenue that I have not seen Netflix or Blockbuster use is advertising.
Digital advertising companies are now backed with billions of dollars from companies as big as Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, and AOL. These companies must be anxious to find ways to get access to businesses that have large memberships. Will their a public outcry if ads show up on Blockbuster and Netflix’s homepages, not likely. Even if ads show up briefly before a streaming movie, I highly doubt that users would complain too much.
As a happy Netflix customer that doesn’t want to see Blockbuster forced to shut-down, those are my two cents. As a movie rental consumer, I want to continue to have my options.
Information Source:
[1] CNET News.com: Say goodbye to Blockbuster
Categories Blockbuster, Blockbuster Inc., Netflix
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Blockbuster Inc. Has Acquired Movielink LLC
Blockbuster Inc. announced today that they would be acquiring Movielink LLC. Movielink provides customers access thousands of movies that can be rented or purchased online. Movielink is a joint venture between Paramount, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn- Mayer Studios, and Warner Bros.
“Blockbuster is committed to keeping pace with the changing needs of customers by offering them an expanding array of convenient ways to access entertainment content,” stated Jim Keyes, the Blockbuster Chairman and CEO. “Our acquisition of Movielink, with its associated digital content, is the next logical step in our planned transformation of Blockbuster. Now, in addition to the entertainment content we provide through our stores and by mail, we have taken an important step toward being able to make movie downloading conveniently available to computers, portable devices and ultimately to the television at home.”
Blockbuster won’t be changing the operations of Movielink but will be making elements of the service available on blockbuster.com. Movielink was started in 2002.