Dish Kills Off Remaining Blockbuster Stores, Mail Services

I found an old Blockbuster card and wondered if there were any real stores left. I guess this answers the question.

Even when blockbuster was at it's peak they were the most expensive rental store in town. The advantage was that they carried more copies of new releases than anywhere else in town.

I'd usually get my rental from a smaller (cheaper) rental store, if they were out I'd go to blockbuster. They were always my last choice due to price.

Does anyone have loyalty to the brand? 320 million seems a lot to spend on a brand that people may (or may not) give a crap about.....

Epic Fail by dish?

I can't believe they lasted this long.

Internet Kills the Video Store
By Brian Stelter, The New York Times - November 6, 2013
»www.nytimes.com/2013/11/ ··· ore.html

And Internet killed the Record Store and now harming bookstores. What was Dish thinking when buying BB.

Don't think we'll see physical media in next generation, outside of specialty uses.

B&N and indie bookstores probably next on Internet's hit list.

B&N has a captive market. A lot of stuff in their stores you can't buy online, and B&N also is the most single use retailer for colleges/universities around the world.

»www.southparkstudios.com ··· =related

I switched to Neflix by mail a few months back because Blockbuster stopped buying new Bluray discs. Sad to see competition go, at least redbox is still there.

I had both a store membership and blockbuster by mail and cancelled both a while ago. The stores kept closing down and it took a ridiculous amount of time to get new dvd's in the mail.

the change to streaming digital media and using home media servers for video, audio, and other data has been more than a decade in the making. those companies who don't adapt to the change will be run out of business.

Maybe?

That's best case scenario. Worse case scenario is that DRM gets more effective and people can no longer have non-drm files, which means they can not easily share them via a server in their homes. As a result they have to rely on online streaming services. Because online streaming services are threatening traditional cable and traditional cable companies also have a monopoly on internet they continue to cap internet usage and charge outrageous fees for larger tiers of consumption. Being that video consumes the most bandwidth people give up and stick with traditional methods.

Sounds good in theory, and I used to really love Netflix, but the amount of stuff that I've watched in the past (mostly Funimation content) that is just no longer available on Netflix in 2013 is astonishing. I can't believe they just take stuff away like that. If I was a new subscriber now, I probably wouldn't stay due to the really low selection on watch-instantly. I can't imagine all the great things I would have never seen had I not managed to watch them a few years ago when they were actually available. Most of the things now that I really liked are not on streaming anymore, and Netflix doesn't have any discs either. All you can do is put it in your "saved" queue.

Stuff like this really makes me question if streaming can really be the way with our current copyright and licensing schemes.

I tried Blockbuster's free 30 day trial once ... out of 4 DVDs I received in the mail, 3 were damaged and unplayable. Needless to say, I didn't continue the service.

I was less than interested in the Blockbuster streaming service due to my experience with the mail service. I figured it would be a digital version of their just as bad mail service.

Yes they were expensive but I have a lot of memories from going to Blockbuster. Once upon a time they had a deal where for $25 you could rent as many DVDs a month (2 at a time) as you could possibly want and I took full advantage. Alas they were too slow in responding to Netflix. With a little foresight they could have become Netflix or provided it with serious competition.

I remember back in the day they were the bigboys in movie rental. I guess the convenience of Netflix by mail and cheaper selfserve kiosks from RedBox, and now streaming trumped them. I forgot Dish bought them out.

They simply could not adapt to the times well enough.. I did consider checking out their service back when Netflix had their little aneurysm when they tried to rebrand. I wasn't impressed, so I stayed with Netflix. Oh well.. :|

The writing was on the wall years ago before they even bought them.

How is it stupid? Dish got a brand people know. They also got rights to millions of movies. You can stream the movies on Dish and online. They're still making $$$ off it.

Strange thing is, the local Blockbuster store is ALWAYS busy! probably one of the only ones...

Same with a few stores in Ohio.

I wonder what they'll do with their inventory. They had a couple TV series that Netflix absolutely refuses to acquire. These have been in my Saved Cue since 2006.

I was sent an email on Oct. 24 about a 99¢ DVD sale on their website.

3,000+ more people just at the store level that will be unemployed

Redbox put them out of business and gives anyone a blank check to park in fire lanes or handicapped spaces (without the state issued plates/placards) to get their DVD rentals.

I'm not a fan of DVD rentals, I'd rather use Video On Demand.

Too bad Blockbuster didn't patent the DVD kiosk Idea before Redbox.

I've seen where the TV show Cops will do stunts for the camera like dress a cop up as a clown for an undercover sting. I'd love to see an episode of Cops where the cops hide in an unmarked cruiser with a waiting tow truck in the back of the store and impound vehicles parking in fire lanes or handicapped spaces (without the plates/placards) to use the Redbox.

So they buy out rental vids provider, some rentals going for as much as a week for a low price. And in exchange we have PPV videos that last 24 hours. Some deal. I think this was more about reducing consumer choices than anything else. That's how big business works. Buy out a successful competitor, change the way it operates to mess it up, then claim a tax break when they shutter it. SOP.

here would be one hint:

I hope those sorry Blcokbuster execs are broke. They did have a good gig to offer wayy back, but if I was "late" returning my rented DVD by only a (seriously) minute, I was fair game for their fu%@ing late-fee. They NEVER gave me one break, NEVER!!! Those greedy vulchers.

The Execs will make sure they are covered just fine financially from this all, its the hourly workers at the stores that will take the rough part of it all.. It always is