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Blockbuster Seeking to Bring Movie Downloads to Apple Devices?

Kilamite said:
Blockbuster's had its time. It's too far behind in the digital era. Although renting Blu-Ray's is really the only positive thing..
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Uh....no. Too far behind in the digital era? They have a huge online library of films. They simply need a decent advertising campaign.
 
Kilamite said:
Source?
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2008 Video Rental by Type:

59% - Traditional Rental (brick and mortar)
24% - Subscription (by mail rental)
10% - Cable/Telco (on-demand)
4% - Kiosk (redbox, etc.)
2% - DBS (satellite)
1% - Digital Rental

http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6644141.html

http://www.homemediamagazine.com/retailers/report-rental-store-market-share-decline-20-2013-15011

While this study shows traditional rental will shrink by 2013 it is still projected to be the dominant rental method
 
Kilamite said:
Source?
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DVD sales flat, but still dwarf downloads
The research group reported Tuesday that, on average, consumers spent 41 percent of the money budgeted for movies and other video content by purchasing DVDs of films. Movie rentals on DVD were the next biggest category with 29 percent. Consumers spent 11 percent purchasing TV shows on DVD. About 18 percent went to theater tickets, according to the report.
Here's the kicker for Internet video: only 0.5 percent was spent on renting or purchasing TV shows or movies off the Web.
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Emphasis mine.

TV has license to kill movies at iTunes, Netflix
One recent study found that movie downloads make up only 0.06 percent of studio revenue, said Jan Saxton, an analyst with Adams Media Research. She said her firm estimates that the return is a little higher but is still tiny.
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Legal downloading of movies is about 99% buzz and 1% reality right now.


Lethal
 
Alith said:
Too little, too late response to digital distribution. It will go the way of all the rest of the retail outlets.

I was walking down Oxford Street (London) the other day and was really shocked to see the cavernous void left by the old Virgin Megastore flagship store. It's a massive, eerie space that exists slap bang in the middle of the busiest shopping street in the city. It's one thing to hear about the whole Zavvi thing in the paper and another thing entirely to see the huge impact the internet has had on the high street.
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zavvi collapsing had nothing to do with the internet.
 
Psychic Shopper said:
Here's a link to David Lynch talking about watching movies on a phone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKiIroiCvZ0
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Haha what an idiot. Once again the old generation that likes newspapers and hardcover books have no clue what the digital age consumers want. There is rarely a movie, as I call it "theatre worthy" as 95% of them are trash.

To the BB topic at hand, they still have their place and online rentals will not come close to in store renting until we see a much larger percentage of the US with true high speed broadband, not this 3 or 6mbs DSL speeds or cables wanna be 20mbs shared with everyone connection. I'm talking about 50 to 100mbs pipe that can stream blue ray quality video.

Based on what the wireless companies are doing they will overtake the speed records within a couple of years with 4g, and LTE technologies. They will cover more rural area's through wireless connections and make the online services grow even more. Someone living 50 miles from their nearest video rental store but only has 56k speed is not likely doing much of either. Give those same people a wireless hub with 4g/LTE type speeds and I'm guessing they will be a Netflix or BB online customer pretty quick.

I personally haven't rented a video at a brick and mortar store for well over a 2 years. I've used Netfiix for some time and enjoy it. Their instantly viewable library is rather lacking, mostly old outdated or B movies/TV shows, but it is free and was added after I was a member so it's just a bonus I use now and then.

The whole Apple + BB would surprise me, Apple love their iTunes, don't see them bringing in someone like BB which would take away from their own sales. Yes they would get a percentage of the rentals, but currently they are in control of the situation and growing everyday. I'm all for options but Apple to date hasn't shown me a reason they would invite a server like this to their Apple TV or other devices.
 
Bye Bye Blockbuster

It's sad, but Blockbuster fell way behind Netflix in value and variety long ago. I give them credit as Pioneers in the movie rental industry, but its management made a terrible mistake to ignore Netflix and its competition until their balance sheets forced them to.

Competition is good. Keeping those employees employed is also good. However, a company without sound management and the innovation to effectively compete in the digital age is a recipe for disaster. No employee should plan on getting gold watches for retirement from this one. Every BB employee should be keeping their resumes fresh, IMO.

/salute, Blockbuster ... you had your day and share of success. Thank you for all you brought to living rooms in the 80's and 90s. However, I grew tired of your late fees, expired membership cards, and the hassle of driving to and from your retail stores when I didn't need to. You missed your chance to grow and retain MY business.

If there is to be any Apple collaboration in the movie rental industry, I would rather Apple partnered with Netflix than BB. YMMV.

:apple:
 
Blockbuster the new AOL

Blockbuster reminds me of AOL (a worthless overpriced product which only the naive still use), a worthless service that over charges for its products and has the worst customer service in the world, due to greed rather then being an actual good business.

I will never step foot into Blockbuster again and I hope they fall just as bad as AOL.
 
DELLsFan said:
It's sad, but Blockbuster fell way behind Netflix in value and variety long ago. I give them credit as Pioneers in the movie rental industry, but its management made a terrible mistake to ignore Netflix and its competition until their balance sheets forced them to.
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Even though Blockbuster still has majority market share in the traditional movie rental business (storefront) which makes up 60% of the market...a market which Netflix doesn't even compete in. Oh and they don't have late fees anymore
 
Greenhoe said:
Blockbuster reminds me of AOL (a worthless overpriced product which only the naive still use), a worthless service that over charges for its products and has the worst customer service in the world, due to greed rather then being an actual good business.

I will never step foot into Blockbuster again and I hope they fall just as bad as AOL.
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Yeah I get unlimited dvds and blu-ray every month for $17.99 and the ability to exchange in store if I want - so overpriced and worthless, I'm so naive!

I know I'm posting in defense of blockbuster a lot here, I'm not some fanboy, but I will defend them because personally I like their service. I also had no idea people had such a negative perception of the place!
 
bossxii said:
Haha what an idiot. Once again the old generation that likes newspapers and hardcover books have no clue what the digital age consumers want. There is rarely a movie, as I call it "theatre worthy" as 95% of them are trash.
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More like one of the greatest living filmmakers expressing his opinion that one can't have the same movie watching experience on one's mobile phone that one can in a theater. Which I think anyone who has ever watched a movie in a theater and on a phone can agree with. Is seeing a jpeg of the Mona Lisa on one's phone the same as seeing it in person? No. There is content more suitable for mobile devices and there is content less suitable for mobile devices but everyone is different about their threshold of what'll they'll enjoy on such a tiny screen. Just like there are shoes more suitable for running marathons and shoes less suitable for running marathons and if you prefer running marathons in slippers that's your prerogative.

The 'digital age consumer', well pretty much any mainstream consumer, would sacrifice quality for convenience and while that's the nature of the beast it doesn't mean that everyone has to like it.


Lethal
 
mattster16 said:
Yeah I get unlimited dvds and blu-ray every month for $17.99 and the ability to exchange in store if I want - so overpriced and worthless, I'm so naive!
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How much does it cost for someone that doesn't watch movies all the time to go in and rent a Blu-Ray? Probably over 50% then what Blockbuster actually pays for that Blu-Ray.
 
bossxii said:
Haha what an idiot. Once again the old generation that likes newspapers and hardcover books have no clue what the digital age consumers want.
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It seems pretty apparent that, without looking him up on Google or Wikipedia, you have no idea who David Lynch is.
 
Can't see this one happening unless Blockbuster can get some sort of leverage between Apple and the studios that gives them a more attractive deal. Then they have to persuade Apple to go for it.
 
Thinking more about it, what if Apple were to implement a BB store subset into the iTunes movie rental service. The end game for Apple has always been to sell hardware, and if I remember correctly they make a very small margin of of music (I am not sure about video) Re-branding the iTunes video rental store with "iTunes Blockbuster" would instantly give much more weight to the rental service, especially for the older generation that still heads to the brick and mortar outlets. This would push Apple TV sales and Apple could get a kickback from Blockbuster. Of course, I am not taking into consideration the different contracts that have previously been agreed upon, but this whole concept is something to keep an eye on.
 
reverie said:
I wonder if they really have 10.000 movies or if they count TV shows as well. Netflix always does that. Nevertheless, impressive collection.
Sure. How do $50 per month sound? The $9 Netflix asks are not sustainable, certainly not for a big library with recent titles.
Don't think so. Competition is good for the market.
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How is Netflix unsustainable? They are profitable. The streaming service is no extra charge on top of the rental for receiving DVD's or Blu-rays in the mail. I stream from them using my Samsung BD-P2500 blu-ray player and it is GREAT! Thousands of titles, plus I get 3 blu-rays out at a time all that for 18.99 plus tax. So, for about $20 - I get about 15 Blu-rays discs in hand (each month) and unlimited streaming to my TV! Some of that in HD.
http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/26/netflix-profit-up-45-in-q4-nears-10-million-total-subscribers/
 
The Netflix DD (digital download) arrangement is a poor deal for me and my TiVo, one I'm not willing to pay for. Much of what's available through postal mail isn't available for DD. Why would I subscribe at a premium level to download a limited selection? I don't want to mail DVDs, I just want DD access that's not second rate. It's almost 2010. Our media/entertainment/distribution moguls need to step on it. Blockbuster may be on the right track. I for one don't dig subscriptions. Who has time to make it worthwhile? PPV is much better.
 
Blockbuster selling rentals on iTunes/AppleTV makes about as much sense as Apple renting DVD's at the local Blockbuster. 😕
 
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