Would it be crazy for Blockbuster to relaunch as a streaming service to compete with the likes of Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu, with their own original programming? I mean, the brand still has nostalgia for tens of millions of Americans, and if they created their own originals it could be cool since Netflix keeps pissing people off.

Always enjoyed going to our local video store in Longview that had a full, hard core porn ROOM. In Bible Belt Longview, TX of all places. I can't remember all of the rumors and stories there were of prominent Longviewites getting busted walking out of that room by a fellow employee or church member who would then spread it around town.

"Mary saw so and so Dad's coming out of the porn room and now his wife is leaving him." Like every week!

Take 1 video in Temple was my video store growing up. What's crazy is that it was open up until a couple of years ago.

Muy said:

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Would it be crazy for Blockbuster to relaunch as a streaming service to compete with the likes of Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu, with their own original programming? I mean, the brand still has nostalgia for tens of millions of Americans, and if they created their own originals it could be cool since Netflix keeps pissing people off.

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Does whoever currently owns the BB name have any
$$? How do they launch a streaming service, develop original content, and compete with amazon/netflix/hulu/hbo/showtime for movie and tv series?
Also, didnt they try something like this? I seem to remember a blockbuster channel on my roku a few years ago but I never used it and I may be misremembering.

Muy said:

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Would it be crazy for Blockbuster to relaunch as a streaming service to compete with the likes of Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu, with their own original programming? I mean, the brand still has nostalgia for tens of millions of Americans, and if they created their own originals it could be cool since Netflix keeps pissing people off.

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Alternatively, they could light a few million dollars on fire and save the time and embarrassment of losing to competitors who are years farther up the learning curve.

When I was stationed at Fort Bliss in El Paso from 14' to 16' there was still a Blockbuster operating a few blocks from my house. The El Paso paper did a story on the store and its owner. He readily admitted that he knew that there was not a long term prospect for success but that he was currently doing quite well. Not sure if it is still operating but I was always surprised at the number of people you could see going into the store.

Diggity said:

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It's odd to me that Netflix killed Blockbuster but you can't stream any halfway decent movies on Netflix.

What percentage of movies do you think you guys rent compared to the Blockbuster days?

I never find myself having much interest in renting a movie at RedBox or on demand. Just too many other options.

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Netflix movies are soooooo bad.

We had the Blockbuster delivery service. It was so slow and some times took forever to come in. My wife wanted to watch Downton Abbey and it took almost 6 months for that title to become available. That's why we switched to Netflix. We still have DVDs sent to us, as well. We enjoy watching the DVD movies/TV shows since the streaming isn't always new releases.

I miss the store experience.

TV Casualty said:

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Muy said:

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Knew some guys in marketing back in the 2000's and they all bolted before the titanic sunk, but were all amazed at how long it took for B.B. to launch their own dvd delivery business. The idea sounded better than Netflix (you can return it at a store if you want to get another movie faster), but it was too late and they made sluggish moves when it was painfully clear to everyone else that streaming would ultimately be victorious.

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Yeah, it was way better than Netflix. You got movies in the mail and then could turn them around the next day for a movie in store. You never felt rushed to watch the movies and get them back in the mail like you did with Netflix.

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I don't get this.. instead of mailing back a movie, you go to a store to turn it in so you can quickly get another one? That is what blockbuster was from day 1. A video rental store.

netflix capitalized on people's desire to have movies show up at their house, eliminating the dedicated stop to a movie rental store. They allowed you to have multiple movies out as long as you wanted, so you basically have a queue at your house and don't have to wait for a movie to come in the mail and watch them at your leisure.

There is a reason why netflix is around and BB isn't, netflix is what people wanted and was a way better idea.

i loved going to blockbuster. there hasn't been one around me for a long time now, so this doesn't hit me nearly as hard as toys r us closing down.

spent a lot of time in both those places.

62strat said:

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TV Casualty said:

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Muy said:

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Knew some guys in marketing back in the 2000's and they all bolted before the titanic sunk, but were all amazed at how long it took for B.B. to launch their own dvd delivery business. The idea sounded better than Netflix (you can return it at a store if you want to get another movie faster), but it was too late and they made sluggish moves when it was painfully clear to everyone else that streaming would ultimately be victorious.

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Yeah, it was way better than Netflix. You got movies in the mail and then could turn them around the next day for a movie in store. You never felt rushed to watch the movies and get them back in the mail like you did with Netflix.

---

I don't get this.. instead of mailing back a movie, you go to a store to turn it in so you can quickly get another one? That is what blockbuster was from day 1. A video rental store.

netflix capitalized on people's desire to have movies show up at their house, eliminating the dedicated stop to a movie rental store. They allowed you to have multiple movies out as long as you wanted, so you basically have a queue at your house and don't have to wait for a movie to come in the mail and watch them at your leisure.

There is a reason why netflix is around and BB isn't, netflix is what people wanted and was a way better idea.

---

With Blockbuster you could mail it back or turn it in at the store and get a new rental. Blockbuster would also send you the next movie in your queue while you still had the one from the store. It was great if you could get the movie/show that you want.

Screw Blockbuster. They tried to say I didn't return Jackie Brown in the late 90's (which I most certainly did) and harassed me for a couple of months about it. Telling me I owed them over $100 for a Jackie Brown VHS tape. Then they did it again with a DVD I rented in the early 2000's. Forgot what that was though. In both instances, after several weeks of me telling them I returned the movies, they just dropped it and never called again and never tried to turn anything into collections.

To me, the subscription aspect was more appealing than getting movies in the mail. For that reason, I didn't hate the Blockbuster plan, because I didn't mind going into the store and browsing.

It's pretty amazing now with streaming available how we can just toss something to the side so quickly if it sucks. I can't tell you how many crap movies I watched, because it was what I picked up at Blockbuster.

Ulrich said:

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How has the whole entertainment board been to Soldatna?

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I can only speak for myself...

TV Casualty said:

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There is actually a movie rental chain that is doing well up in Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois. It's called family video and they have two stores in the town I live in.

All the video stores closed and it opened up an opportunity for them. There really is a gap in the market with the limited availability of redbox and the high cost of on demand rentals. It probably won't last for long though.

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they have Family Video here in Texas... I was occasionally using the one in Coppell maybe 5 years ago - then I moved. It's closed now but I know there are others in Lewisville, NRH, Garland, etc.

We rented Weird Science back in college and I don't think we ever returned it.

Muy said:

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We rented Weird Science back in college and I don't think we ever returned it.

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i know why

ro828 said:

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I loved going to Blockbuster or Hastings. I'd stop by and check out the new releases at the beginning of the alphabet (as in Chainsaw or Cheerleader) or at the very end (for Zombie). Redbox is good, but it's not a group experience. It's more like using an ATM.

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They funny thing is that Blockbuster did have a kiosk just like Redbox and it was supposed to hold more movies. They launched a few of those kiosks around the DFW area, but BB didn't really manage that technology too well and that's why it didn't really take off. Once upon a time, I worked on designing those BB kiosks but they never really went anywhere.

The Anchor said:

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62strat said:

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TV Casualty said:

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Muy said:

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Knew some guys in marketing back in the 2000's and they all bolted before the titanic sunk, but were all amazed at how long it took for B.B. to launch their own dvd delivery business. The idea sounded better than Netflix (you can return it at a store if you want to get another movie faster), but it was too late and they made sluggish moves when it was painfully clear to everyone else that streaming would ultimately be victorious.

---

Yeah, it was way better than Netflix. You got movies in the mail and then could turn them around the next day for a movie in store. You never felt rushed to watch the movies and get them back in the mail like you did with Netflix.

---

I don't get this.. instead of mailing back a movie, you go to a store to turn it in so you can quickly get another one? That is what blockbuster was from day 1. A video rental store.

netflix capitalized on people's desire to have movies show up at their house, eliminating the dedicated stop to a movie rental store. They allowed you to have multiple movies out as long as you wanted, so you basically have a queue at your house and don't have to wait for a movie to come in the mail and watch them at your leisure.

There is a reason why netflix is around and BB isn't, netflix is what people wanted and was a way better idea.

---

With Blockbuster you could mail it back or turn it in at the store and get a new rental. Blockbuster would also send you the next movie in your queue while you still had the one from the store. It was great if you could get the movie/show that you want.

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I guess I'm not seeing your point. With netflix, you don't need to have ability to return to store to get another one, because you can have multiple dvds at once loaned out. Unless you plan to watch movies all day and after 3 movies wanted to go get more, I don't see the benefit of having a physical location to return and pick up another. That was the whole revolutionary idea from netflix, you could have multiple movies out at once.

62strat said:

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The Anchor said:

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62strat said:

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TV Casualty said:

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Muy said:

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Knew some guys in marketing back in the 2000's and they all bolted before the titanic sunk, but were all amazed at how long it took for B.B. to launch their own dvd delivery business. The idea sounded better than Netflix (you can return it at a store if you want to get another movie faster), but it was too late and they made sluggish moves when it was painfully clear to everyone else that streaming would ultimately be victorious.

---

Yeah, it was way better than Netflix. You got movies in the mail and then could turn them around the next day for a movie in store. You never felt rushed to watch the movies and get them back in the mail like you did with Netflix.

---

I don't get this.. instead of mailing back a movie, you go to a store to turn it in so you can quickly get another one? That is what blockbuster was from day 1. A video rental store.

netflix capitalized on people's desire to have movies show up at their house, eliminating the dedicated stop to a movie rental store. They allowed you to have multiple movies out as long as you wanted, so you basically have a queue at your house and don't have to wait for a movie to come in the mail and watch them at your leisure.

There is a reason why netflix is around and BB isn't, netflix is what people wanted and was a way better idea.

---

With Blockbuster you could mail it back or turn it in at the store and get a new rental. Blockbuster would also send you the next movie in your queue while you still had the one from the store. It was great if you could get the movie/show that you want.

---

I guess I'm not seeing your point. With netflix, you don't need to have ability to return to store to get another one, because you can have multiple dvds at once loaned out. Unless you plan to watch movies all day and after 3 movies wanted to go get more, I don't see the benefit of having a physical location to return and pick up another. That was the whole revolutionary idea from netflix, you could have multiple movies out at once.

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Your experience between the two probably depends a lot on where you live. Personally, living in the DFW area, the turn around on a Netflix DVD was usually next day (they had/have a distribution center in Coppell), so the Blockbuster alternative was never appealing to me. However, if I lived in a small town where it took two to three days to get the DVD back to Netflix, and then two to three more days to get the next DVD from Netflix, I could see the appeal of just driving up to Blockbuster to return the DVD.

Ultimately, I think people give Netflix and streaming too much credit in killing Blockbuster. I feel like Blockbuster killed itself. It really seemed to have horrible customer service to the point that most people hated Blockbuster long before Netflix came around. Their late fee policy in the 90s is the whole reason Reed Hastings started Netflix to begin with. As soon as a viable alternative came along, everyone jumped ship. Add to that the massive amount of debt Blockbuster had, and the whole thing came down fast. Most people I know didn't hate video stores. They hated Blockbuster. Although it would still be a dying industry, I think if they had treated their customers better, they could have bought themselves enough time to transition into a streaming service.

Yeah it was mostly BB self inflicted... Family Video has remained as a relevant renter option and still operate now with 700+ stores.

Personally I was never a Netflix fan for rentals. Cancelled it after maybe a year at most. Stuck with video stores until streaming and the existence of good content they produced.

Yea blockbuster was better than Netflix bc of the store return option. BB had different options where you could have 1, 2, or 3 movies mailed to you. There would typically be a 2-3 day wait for movies to come back after you mailed the old movies back to Netflix or BB. so the in store option gave you the ability to have another movie while you waited (and you could just do the cheapest option instead of paying more for 3 movies). BB also included video games. I had the BB service until they discontinued it. Then I went to Netflix.

dlance said:

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62strat said:

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The Anchor said:

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62strat said:

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TV Casualty said:

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Muy said:

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Knew some guys in marketing back in the 2000's and they all bolted before the titanic sunk, but were all amazed at how long it took for B.B. to launch their own dvd delivery business. The idea sounded better than Netflix (you can return it at a store if you want to get another movie faster), but it was too late and they made sluggish moves when it was painfully clear to everyone else that streaming would ultimately be victorious.

---

Yeah, it was way better than Netflix. You got movies in the mail and then could turn them around the next day for a movie in store. You never felt rushed to watch the movies and get them back in the mail like you did with Netflix.

---

I don't get this.. instead of mailing back a movie, you go to a store to turn it in so you can quickly get another one? That is what blockbuster was from day 1. A video rental store.

netflix capitalized on people's desire to have movies show up at their house, eliminating the dedicated stop to a movie rental store. They allowed you to have multiple movies out as long as you wanted, so you basically have a queue at your house and don't have to wait for a movie to come in the mail and watch them at your leisure.

There is a reason why netflix is around and BB isn't, netflix is what people wanted and was a way better idea.

---

With Blockbuster you could mail it back or turn it in at the store and get a new rental. Blockbuster would also send you the next movie in your queue while you still had the one from the store. It was great if you could get the movie/show that you want.

---

I guess I'm not seeing your point. With netflix, you don't need to have ability to return to store to get another one, because you can have multiple dvds at once loaned out. Unless you plan to watch movies all day and after 3 movies wanted to go get more, I don't see the benefit of having a physical location to return and pick up another. That was the whole revolutionary idea from netflix, you could have multiple movies out at once.

---

What was revolutionary about having multiple movies rented out? You could do that anywhere.

The return to store thing for Blockbuster was good in that you didn't have to wait a week+ for mail turnaround if you had watched your 2 or 3 movies.

We had Netflix at my house but switched to Blockbuster because of the store feature and a way better catalog of movies.

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Revolutionary because it was a flat rate, and it was unlimited rentals in a month. A week turnaround? netflix has always overnighted shipping both ways.

No sense in arguing, it's no secret Netflix had this figured out early on, and it killed blockbuster even before netflix's streaming became the bigger part of their business (They didn't offer streaming until 2007; BB was bankrupt in 2010.).

Maybe you saw more value in BB's service; clearly you were in the minority.

62strat said:

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dlance said:

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62strat said:

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The Anchor said:

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62strat said:

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TV Casualty said:

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Muy said:

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Knew some guys in marketing back in the 2000's and they all bolted before the titanic sunk, but were all amazed at how long it took for B.B. to launch their own dvd delivery business. The idea sounded better than Netflix (you can return it at a store if you want to get another movie faster), but it was too late and they made sluggish moves when it was painfully clear to everyone else that streaming would ultimately be victorious.

---

Yeah, it was way better than Netflix. You got movies in the mail and then could turn them around the next day for a movie in store. You never felt rushed to watch the movies and get them back in the mail like you did with Netflix.

---

I don't get this.. instead of mailing back a movie, you go to a store to turn it in so you can quickly get another one? That is what blockbuster was from day 1. A video rental store.

netflix capitalized on people's desire to have movies show up at their house, eliminating the dedicated stop to a movie rental store. They allowed you to have multiple movies out as long as you wanted, so you basically have a queue at your house and don't have to wait for a movie to come in the mail and watch them at your leisure.

There is a reason why netflix is around and BB isn't, netflix is what people wanted and was a way better idea.

---

With Blockbuster you could mail it back or turn it in at the store and get a new rental. Blockbuster would also send you the next movie in your queue while you still had the one from the store. It was great if you could get the movie/show that you want.

---

I guess I'm not seeing your point. With netflix, you don't need to have ability to return to store to get another one, because you can have multiple dvds at once loaned out. Unless you plan to watch movies all day and after 3 movies wanted to go get more, I don't see the benefit of having a physical location to return and pick up another. That was the whole revolutionary idea from netflix, you could have multiple movies out at once.

---

What was revolutionary about having multiple movies rented out? You could do that anywhere.

The return to store thing for Blockbuster was good in that you didn't have to wait a week+ for mail turnaround if you had watched your 2 or 3 movies.

We had Netflix at my house but switched to Blockbuster because of the store feature and a way better catalog of movies.

---

Revolutionary because it was a flat rate, and it was unlimited rentals in a month. A week turnaround? netflix has always overnighted shipping both ways.

No sense in arguing, netflix clearly had this figured out early on, and it killed blockbuster even before netflix's streaming became the bigger part of their business (They didn't offer streaming until 2007; BB was bankrupt in 2010.)

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Netflix never had overnight - and certainly no overnight guarantee.

what they had was distribution centers in large cities and close to those central mail dist. centers. they got it to them that day and it often was delivered the next day in major markets.

I can guarantee you they never paid for overnight delivery - that would have bankrupted them.

From their current website even:

Quote:

---

"Most of our customers receive next-day delivery, but shipping can sometimes take up to three business days. If a disc hasn't arrived after three days, please report it as lost.

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And on the return side when you marked an item as returned they would ship the next one - on a trust basis. It went back to them snail mail speed... probably three days.

Zombie Jon Snow said:

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62strat said:

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dlance said:

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62strat said:

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The Anchor said:

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62strat said:

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TV Casualty said:

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Muy said:

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Knew some guys in marketing back in the 2000's and they all bolted before the titanic sunk, but were all amazed at how long it took for B.B. to launch their own dvd delivery business. The idea sounded better than Netflix (you can return it at a store if you want to get another movie faster), but it was too late and they made sluggish moves when it was painfully clear to everyone else that streaming would ultimately be victorious.

---

Yeah, it was way better than Netflix. You got movies in the mail and then could turn them around the next day for a movie in store. You never felt rushed to watch the movies and get them back in the mail like you did with Netflix.

---

I don't get this.. instead of mailing back a movie, you go to a store to turn it in so you can quickly get another one? That is what blockbuster was from day 1. A video rental store.

netflix capitalized on people's desire to have movies show up at their house, eliminating the dedicated stop to a movie rental store. They allowed you to have multiple movies out as long as you wanted, so you basically have a queue at your house and don't have to wait for a movie to come in the mail and watch them at your leisure.

There is a reason why netflix is around and BB isn't, netflix is what people wanted and was a way better idea.

---

With Blockbuster you could mail it back or turn it in at the store and get a new rental. Blockbuster would also send you the next movie in your queue while you still had the one from the store. It was great if you could get the movie/show that you want.

---

I guess I'm not seeing your point. With netflix, you don't need to have ability to return to store to get another one, because you can have multiple dvds at once loaned out. Unless you plan to watch movies all day and after 3 movies wanted to go get more, I don't see the benefit of having a physical location to return and pick up another. That was the whole revolutionary idea from netflix, you could have multiple movies out at once.

---

What was revolutionary about having multiple movies rented out? You could do that anywhere.

The return to store thing for Blockbuster was good in that you didn't have to wait a week+ for mail turnaround if you had watched your 2 or 3 movies.

We had Netflix at my house but switched to Blockbuster because of the store feature and a way better catalog of movies.

---

Revolutionary because it was a flat rate, and it was unlimited rentals in a month. A week turnaround? netflix has always overnighted shipping both ways.

No sense in arguing, netflix clearly had this figured out early on, and it killed blockbuster even before netflix's streaming became the bigger part of their business (They didn't offer streaming until 2007; BB was bankrupt in 2010.)

---

Netflix never had overnight - and certainly no overnight guarantee.

what they had was distribution centers in large cities and close to those central mail dist. centers. they got it to them that day and it often was delivered the next day in major markets.

I can guarantee you they never paid for overnight delivery - that would have bankrupted them.

From their current website even:

Quote:

---

"Most of our customers receive next-day delivery, but shipping can sometimes take up to three business days. If a disc hasn't arrived after three days, please report it as lost.

---

And on the return side when you marked an item as returned they would ship the next one - on a trust basis. It went back to them snail mail speed... probably three days.

---

But again, unless you were planning on a movie day and watching 3-4 movies, it didn't matter. You watched a movie one day, and threw it in the mail. Next day, you watch another, etc, then when you go through your 3, you likely have another one showing up.
For 99% of people, this was acceptable. Not many people watch 4+ movies in 2-3 days continually.

I'd imagine they knew when you put in the mail, because it would get scanned. That's what I meant on that side. As you point out, you didn't have to wait for them to actually receive it.

62strat said:

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Zombie Jon Snow said:

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62strat said:

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dlance said:

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62strat said:

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The Anchor said:

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62strat said:

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TV Casualty said:

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Muy said:

---

Knew some guys in marketing back in the 2000's and they all bolted before the titanic sunk, but were all amazed at how long it took for B.B. to launch their own dvd delivery business. The idea sounded better than Netflix (you can return it at a store if you want to get another movie faster), but it was too late and they made sluggish moves when it was painfully clear to everyone else that streaming would ultimately be victorious.

---

Yeah, it was way better than Netflix. You got movies in the mail and then could turn them around the next day for a movie in store. You never felt rushed to watch the movies and get them back in the mail like you did with Netflix.

---

I don't get this.. instead of mailing back a movie, you go to a store to turn it in so you can quickly get another one? That is what blockbuster was from day 1. A video rental store.

netflix capitalized on people's desire to have movies show up at their house, eliminating the dedicated stop to a movie rental store. They allowed you to have multiple movies out as long as you wanted, so you basically have a queue at your house and don't have to wait for a movie to come in the mail and watch them at your leisure.

There is a reason why netflix is around and BB isn't, netflix is what people wanted and was a way better idea.

---

With Blockbuster you could mail it back or turn it in at the store and get a new rental. Blockbuster would also send you the next movie in your queue while you still had the one from the store. It was great if you could get the movie/show that you want.

---

I guess I'm not seeing your point. With netflix, you don't need to have ability to return to store to get another one, because you can have multiple dvds at once loaned out. Unless you plan to watch movies all day and after 3 movies wanted to go get more, I don't see the benefit of having a physical location to return and pick up another. That was the whole revolutionary idea from netflix, you could have multiple movies out at once.

---

What was revolutionary about having multiple movies rented out? You could do that anywhere.

The return to store thing for Blockbuster was good in that you didn't have to wait a week+ for mail turnaround if you had watched your 2 or 3 movies.

We had Netflix at my house but switched to Blockbuster because of the store feature and a way better catalog of movies.

---

Revolutionary because it was a flat rate, and it was unlimited rentals in a month. A week turnaround? netflix has always overnighted shipping both ways.

No sense in arguing, netflix clearly had this figured out early on, and it killed blockbuster even before netflix's streaming became the bigger part of their business (They didn't offer streaming until 2007; BB was bankrupt in 2010.)

---

Netflix never had overnight - and certainly no overnight guarantee.

what they had was distribution centers in large cities and close to those central mail dist. centers. they got it to them that day and it often was delivered the next day in major markets.

I can guarantee you they never paid for overnight delivery - that would have bankrupted them.

From their current website even:

Quote:

---

"Most of our customers receive next-day delivery, but shipping can sometimes take up to three business days. If a disc hasn't arrived after three days, please report it as lost.

---

And on the return side when you marked an item as returned they would ship the next one - on a trust basis. It went back to them snail mail speed... probably three days.

---

But again, unless you were planning on a movie day and watching 3-4 movies, it didn't matter. You watched a movie one day, and threw it in the mail. Next day, you watch another, etc, then when you go through your 3, you likely have another one showing up.
For 99% of people, this was acceptable. Not many people watch 4+ movies in 2-3 days continually.

I'd imagine they knew when you put in the mail, because it would get scanned. That's what I meant on that side. As you point out, you didn't have to wait for them to actually receive it.

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Yes it was scanned at the PO.... if you dropped it at the PO it was scanned the same day.

As for the 3 movies thing....Not if you were on the 1 movie at a time plan.

Not everyone was on 3 movies at a time - at least not when I had it. Maybe that became the norm later but when I did it there were choices. I tried the 3 movies but that wasn't great for me either. Just didn't feel like it was worth the money.

It just never worked well for me...I never had something I definitely wanted to watch right then it seemed. So it would sit there for weeks. My mood might be for a comedy and maybe I didn't have that. I just much preferred watching something I was in the mood for now. That and the Family Video was literally 100 yard walk for me. We would walk in grab something to watch now and return it the next day.

Similarly for my Netflix streaming I have tons of stuff in my queue but I don't necessarily want to wtch it now - but for streaming it is irrelevant. I can watch it whenever.

It's a much better streaming and content service - hated it for DVDs.

My issue with Netflix streaming right now is their movie selection is really poor. TV is really good, but no subscription service really has a solid selection of movies to stream. Especially if you want to show your kid a random movie from your childhood. At least not compared to what you could get from video stores back in the day. Of course, Amazon/Itunes/etc. do have the streaming rental option, but that really just cuts out the drive. I would pay $20+ monthly for a streaming service that has a full catalog of movies available for viewing.

We might be close, but a service like that will officially put BD purchases in the tank, even if it is delayed a year before hitting the streaming catalog. I've wondered if Disney has the guts to bite the bullet and put up their entire catalog on their streaming service. It would be yuge.

expresswrittenconsent said:

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I think it would have been hard if you were leading that company (with 1000 retail stores famous for no membership fee) to be able to foresee a complete shift to subscription based streaming. And even if you knew it was coming, how do you manage to push through a plan that closes hundreds of stores?

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This is a really good point and probably a big cause of BlockBuster's sluggish pace at adaptation. They had a massive real estate portfolio and making moves that fundamentally altered how their financing worked out probably caused serious heartburn in the C-suite. It's not like their leases just disappear because you have no need for a specific location.

62strat said:

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TV Casualty said:

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Muy said:

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Knew some guys in marketing back in the 2000's and they all bolted before the titanic sunk, but were all amazed at how long it took for B.B. to launch their own dvd delivery business. The idea sounded better than Netflix (you can return it at a store if you want to get another movie faster), but it was too late and they made sluggish moves when it was painfully clear to everyone else that streaming would ultimately be victorious.

---

Yeah, it was way better than Netflix. You got movies in the mail and then could turn them around the next day for a movie in store. You never felt rushed to watch the movies and get them back in the mail like you did with Netflix.

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I don't get this.. instead of mailing back a movie, you go to a store to turn it in so you can quickly get another one? That is what blockbuster was from day 1. A video rental store.

netflix capitalized on people's desire to have movies show up at their house, eliminating the dedicated stop to a movie rental store. They allowed you to have multiple movies out as long as you wanted, so you basically have a queue at your house and don't have to wait for a movie to come in the mail and watch them at your leisure.

There is a reason why netflix is around and BB isn't, netflix is what people wanted and was a way better idea.

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1. If BB had rolled out their subscription service earlier they would probably still be around. They didn't start until they were almost completely under water and their whole customer base had already moved on.

2. You would need to add gamefly to netflix to get video games which would be double the cost of BB's service.

3. BB's service operated just like netflix, but with the added option of returning it to a store and renting that day. Between receiving DVDs in the mail and store returns I got way more value.

4. Netflix shipping times were long enough that I could only turn around one movie a week. This made it difficult to get the movie that I wanted on the weekend. With BB I could have the movie I wanted on the exact day I wanted it thanks to the store return option.

5. Netflix hurt BB's business, but it wasn't until streaming and redbox that BB was finished off. Most people that I know of have netflix streaming, but no longer have the DVD by mail plan.

6. Netflix and Redbox hurt BB because BB had high rental prices. Forcing you to rent for 3 to 5 days was expensive so people ran to other options. Blockbuster's subscription model fixed this issue, but it was way too late and hardly anyone tried it.

If you want a pretty good podcast to listen to, listen to Business Wars. They had a season on Blockbuster vs. Netflix and the struggles each had and how Netflix came out on top. Also dove into HBO as well.