Warner Bros. Throws Blockbuster a Bone

[Chris Gohlke]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.ehomeupgrade.com/2010/03/26/blockbuster-warner-bros-new-release-exclusivity-deal-already-showing-up-in-product-marketing/' target='_blank'>http://www.ehomeupgrade.com/2010/03...duct-marketing/</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"I heard about Blockbuster getting an exclusivity deal with Warner Bros. to rent their new movie titles 28 days before any competitor is able to, but I didn&rsquo;t realize that it was immediate and would affect all forms of delivery and sales (see press release below). As you can see in the image above, The Blind Side through Blockbuster is available in-store, by mail, and on-demand. Netflix and redbox&hellip; no dice."</em></p><p><em><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/dht/auto/1269949174.usr10.jpg" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" /></em></p><p>This is just life support for Blockbuster. &nbsp;It is in Warner Bros. best interested to keep them around, but I'm betting they know Blockbuster is all but dead and just didn't want to even waste their time negotiating for the delayed rental window. &nbsp;Like a lot of other Netflix users, I have tons in my queue, I don't go to the theater anyway, so waiting an extra month is not a big deal. &nbsp;I used to be a fan of Blockbuster, but they were dedicated in their intent to drive me away and were finally successful a few years ago. &nbsp;</p>

[wererich]

Yeah, I have this one in my queue too. Waiting for a bit is no big deal and paying the newer hiked theater prices is out of the question. I was driven away from Blockbuster several years ago. I'm surprised they're still in business with their terrible customer service.

[doogald]

It's a pretty savvy move, actually. That said, I have never been a Blockbuster customer. The closest retail outlet was 25 minutes away (and just closed), and I have been a very happy Netflix customer for many years now, so I have no reason to switch. In fact, I have about 150 titles in my queue, so waiting an extra 4 weeks will have no effect on me at all.

However, getting access to the latest as soon as possible will appeal to some people, so they may get some traction with this.

[Jason Dunn]

I'm a Zip.ca customer, which is the closest equivalent to NetFlix in Canada, and am more or less satisfied with their service. I keep nudging my brother, who's really likes watching movies, to try Zip.ca, but he keeps renting from Blockbuster - I think there's still a healthy segment of users who want to watch what they want to watch when they want to watch it. :D DVD-by-mail services don't appeal to those types of people...but on-demand streaming services do. That's where Blockbuster will really fail, as set top boxes and networked media players bring video streaming to the masses - it's still a pretty geeky thing to do. Blockbuster still has a significant price advantage though; I think Xbox Live movies are about 25% more expensive than renting from Blockbuster in Canada, which irks me. It should be a bit LESS expensive.

Worth noting is that The Blind Side is available from Zip.ca in Canada, so this is a USA-only exclusive for Blockbuster.

[Rob Alexander]

I've been a supporter of Blockbuster on these forums, largely because when I tried Netflix about four years ago, their service was awful. It would regularly take a week to turn movies around from a distrubution center than was one day's mail away. I switched to Blockbuster and they have always given me good service.

However, I just switched back to Netflix anyway. Why? Because they offered my unlimited streaming movies included as part of my subscription while Blockbuster wanted to charge me $3-$5 for each downloaded movie. The only advantage Blockbuster had (other than the service issues) was that I could trade out my returning DVD at the store without holding up my replacement. But the local store closed, so that's worthless now.

In the end, I shifted from a 3-out deal with BB to a 2-out one from Netflix, because the streaming downloads give me a huge queue that can tide me over while discs are shipping around, and I have ended up paying about $2 less per month.

In hindsight, I realize that this is obvious. The kind of people who would want to pay a flat fee for unlimited DVDs would also be the kind of people who would want the same for streaming. Netflix figured that out and Blockbuster didn't. So, anyway, I guess I'll have to retire my posts defending BB.

On the month delay thing, that is really meaningless to me. Movies sit in my queue for months and, if NF gets it a month later, I'm unlikely to even notice.

[Chris Gohlke]

Rob, I was a Blockbuster fan too for quite a while despite the Netflix bandwagon..

Here is a review I wrote a while back on Blockbusters service - http://www.digitalhomethoughts.com/news/show/30666/blockbuster-total-access.html

and my post of why I left Blockbuster - http://forums.thoughtsmedia.com/f303/dear-blockbuster-90113.html