“Netflix and Apple have hammered the final nail into Blockbuster’s coffin: parent company Dish Network announced it will close all Blockbuster retail locations by January,” Keris Alison Lahiff reports for TheStreet.
“Dish Network said it will cease Blockbuster operations across its 300 remaining U.S.-based stores as well as in its mail DVD distribution warehouses. The plans will make as many as 2,800 employees redundant,” Lahiff reports. “‘This is not an easy decision, yet consumer demand is clearly moving to digital distribution of video entertainment,’ said Dish CEO Joseph P. Clayton in a statement.”
Lahiff reports, “Blockbuster’s business model was severely crippled in the latter half of the 2000s. Netflix’s streaming service and mail DVD program decimated the video rental market, while Apple’s iTunes made purchasing digital content convenient.”
Read more in the full article here.
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blood is on red box and netflix. when these two die then I’ll give credit to apple
Nailed it
Blockbuster retail did itself in like Xerox, Kodak or Palm, Nokia, Blackberry.
I completely agree. Blockbuster lost me as a customer when they changed their return-time to noon just to screw people over. I got caught by that once, and never went back.
But what really pissed me off about them was they bought up our local Reelvideo – which was a great video place! – and destroyed it, and closed it down.
While I really feel sorry for the employees, I will not be shedding any tears for Blockbuster.
Yup>>> I hated BB when they did the same in our neighborhood (as well as others).
The great video store (which was right across the street) turned to renting porn to survive. I hated BB and all it stood for. So happy to see them finally fold. I feel bad for the people that just work there. That’s not on them. A job’s a job.
Well, the Blockbuster location near me is about to re-open as a Petfood Express. So, hopefully they are able to pick up some of the ex-Blockbuster people.
But yeah, Blockbuster ran itself into the ground.
Yea, at least until Apple starts delivering your pet food digitally. 😉
Don’t forget Amazon; I rented a lot of movies from them on my Roku box. Then I got an Apple TV and that was the end of that.
they do have a streaming service, so maybe we should all give them a try. this link advertises their mac app and shows a macbook pro playing a james bond film
http://www.blockbusternow.com/getapp
If not for THEIR original content… netflix would be having a battle with RedBox.
Nope. Netflix is just too easy. You don’t have to get in your car and drive anywhere. Redbox won’t be around much longer either.
You sure about that? Sure, there’s not much DVD rental business left, but doesn’t Redbox have, like, all of it? It’s easy to survive in a dwindling market when you’ve got most of that market.
——RM
Blockbuster lost it, Apple had nothing to do with Blockbuster’s demise.
Sgt. Pepper’s lonely heart’s club band
Maybe Apple should buy all 300 Blockbuster stores and position them as mid-level Blackberry Stores.
🙂
Oh yeah, the Blackberry and Blockbuster brands, they would work so well together, heck you could exchange some DNA and have Blackbuster and Blockberry mid tier brands.
I’m sure some insightful wannabe journalist will love writing a story on that, hey I’m looking at you Steve Jacks.
I disagree. I do not want Red Box or Netflix to die. It only cost about $1.25-1.50 to rent a movie from Red Box. Way cheaper than renting from Apple. Also for $8 I get a lot of movies and TV shows from Netflix. Remember people competition is good. When Apple starts renting movies for the same as Red Box then I will rent from Apple. I do occasionally when I don’t feel like going out in the winter. You can’t beat Red Boxes pricing. I am a huge Apple fan, but also a smart shopper.
I don’t think anybody wants Netflix or Redbox to die. Ed was just stating that the demise of Blockbuster has way more to do with Netflix than Apple’s iTunes.
I use Netflix WAY more than renting from Apple TV. When you factor in HBO Go, Amazon Prime etc . . . Blockbuster never had a chance.
A fitting salute to the ghosts of all the mom-and-pop video rental shops killed off by big chains like Blockbuster.
In its list of related articles, somehow MDN missed the demise of Hollywood Video, which shut down for good in 2010. It had been Blockbuster’s biggest direct competitor.
Yes, the little guy is having a tough way to go these days. Walmart is trying to come into Burbank. There’s a temporary hold on allowing Walmart to occupy a vacated building. But Walmart has more lawyers than they need. It won’t take them too long to push that aside. Burbank is full of small businesses. Many of these will be impacted greatly not if but when Walmart gets into Burbank. Most people don’t want them but Walmart always greases enough palms to get what they want. They just buy City Hall. If you think Google is evil, just look at the devastation that Walmart has done to this country. They are big, they are evil and they don’t give a damn.
Blockbuster UK was also just put back into administration, because the US parent company refused to license the name for a branded digital platform proposed by the UK company’s owners (it was effectively run as a franchise).
Given that bit of info it’s no surprise they’ve gone under for good. They simply didn’t get the New Media business model. Netflix, Lovefilm, iTunes, even Steam, have all killed off Blockbuster, and Blockbuster let it happen.
Blockbuster is still in business? They shut down in my area some time ago.
So you’re… FROM THE FUTURE???
Not necessarily. Both Blockbuster and Hollywood Video closed in my area in 2008.
It isn’t apple that killed blockbuster peeps so stop the smugness. It’s the freeloaders who refuse to pay for digital content that have ‘blood ‘ on their hands. One day the freeloaders will realise that their digital well has run dry because their greed has emptied it.
Yeh, there’s that too. The generation that thinks it’s OK to steal other’s work has done a lot of damage. It’s only a matter of time before the film/tv industries are wiped out too – unless they act smarter than the music industry did. They share some of the blame for kicking digital to the curb. I know, I work in that business. To see the dinosaurs at the top destroy any chance of using technology for music delivery was painful.
Online Streaming rentals are WAY TOO expensive.
I have a hard time paying $5 or more for a streaming video close to VHS quality. The whole infrastructure for DVD distribution is costly, and prices are 99c-$3. Video streaming needs to be $1 – $3… $4 for HD.
You’re paying for the convenience. I’ll gladly pay one $5 fee over multiple fees to take a group to the movie theater. And I’ll gladly pay $5 to avoid having to drive to the video store/Redbox kiosk, drive the movies back, clean them (because they’re always filthy with fingerprints), and then drive them back.
——RM
Say goodbye to Blockbuster. Say goodbye my baby.
Hubris: Pride before the fall.
I think most people would credit Netflix before even saying the blood is on iTunes’ hands. That’s like saying, “between Psy and me, we’ve garnered over a billion views of our YouTube videos.”
I for one am going to miss my local BB. It is right beside my favorite pizza joint not far from home. I usually stop by on my way home from work on Friday and pick up a pizza and a few movies for the family. I could usually combine it with some deals and get 2 or 3 movies for less than $5. The quality is much better than I can get from streaming services and I also like the extra features on DVDs.
I guess I’m going to be able to pick up a bunch of cheap movies for sale for my collection. I may rent a digital movie from my cable provider at times but I don’t think I’ll ever “buy” a digital movie. I want something physical to hold. It’s odd, I’m Okay with buying my music digitally but not my movies. I’m not sure why.
Blockbuster still had retail locations? Not joking, I thought they all closed ages ago. I hadn’t seen one in the wild for years.
——RM
You know what I miss least about renting DVDs? Having to clean the things before I played them. I don’t know what the problem was. I have never met a single person whose own personal DVD collection was anything less than pristine, but nearly every DVD I ever rented looked like it was used as a napkin by someone eating chicken wings. DVD players mostly laugh at scratches, but playing through fingerprint smudges can be iffy, so I’d always have to pull out my cleaner and get to work. I never understood why the shops couldn’t clean the discs.
——RM
I don’t have anything against Dish Network. But seriously. Buying Blockbuster? It was DOA. Killing off the remaining stores is like lopping off the heads of 300 zombies.
Why would Blockbuster closings have anything to do with Apple?
I love these “more blood” headlines! Reading them in 2020 makes me feel nostalgic!