NEWS: Blockbuster Opens Online Rental Store; Competes with Netflix

CULTURE: Blockbuster Opens Online Rental Store; Competes with Netflix

Blockbuster Inc., a subsidiary of Viacom, has decided to compete directly with online DVD rental company Netflix with an online rental service of its own. They are offering a similar renting scale as Netflix by charging $19.99 a month for unlimited rentals and three movies out at any one time, but Blockbuster will also give two free rental tickets to their subscribers every month to use at their stores.

Blockbuster's site is currently live and is offering a free month of rentals, similar to Netflix.

I can now only hope that Netflix will be able to compete by offering a download service, but then again the world is full of large companies that copy other successful companies in order to drive them out of business.

One thing to point out to potential customers who already subscribe to NetFlix is that Blockbuster:
1> doesn't have as many obscure films as NetFlix
2> Edits many of their movies

i love netflix. their service is great, and they don't censor movies, like blockbusters does.

i rented 'Ichi The Killer', the X Rated japanese shock-horror masterpiece, from Blockbuster.

minutes later i returned 'Ichi The Killer', the R Rated heavily edited badly overdubbed travesty, to Blockbuster.

I don't think NetFlix are in UK (yet) but I know Blockbuster already have an online service over here. I use a service called Screen Select though. They have a good range of titles.

I rented Ichi The Killer from Screen Select recently. The UK version is cut anyway, but probably not as badly as the US Blockbuster one...

And to round it out, I rented 'Ichi The Killer' from Netflix, and all was good.

its been running in the UK for ages

Yeah, fucking capitalists and their competition and such.

the only plus i can think of is if you order the movie online have it mailed to you and when you are done you can return the videos to a local "blockbuster".

in the short run this is only going to hurt "blockbuster" i hope they have enough funds to see through it.

how does competition like that encourage innovation and drive people to "be their best"?

I work as a manager at a blockbuster, so let's clear up a few things.

-blockbuster online does, in fact have quite a few obscure indie films and genre pieces, and while it may not yet be as many as netflix, they get more movies than any other rental organization every week. In addition, this means more and more obscure films are popping up in your local store. First of all, ichi, well, it sucked. Second of all, at my store, we rent the unrated version, as well as the unrated version of suicide club (and no, we don't carry battle royale, and probably never will, because the company that owns the rights to it won't release it in the states; any copies that you see for rent or sale are imports of the japanese or korean releases).

-secondly, my pity for netflix only stretches so far, as they've stated that it's their goal to put blockbuster (a major employer of thousands of people, including some real horse's asses, I'll admit) out of business completely. Don't complain about a major company "taking over" when the other company has stated that they want the other company to disappear. THAT is bad for competition, and for business in america in general as well as the consumer. I doubt we'll put netflix out of business, but we will quite possibly put a dent in it; all of netflix's orders are processed out of one main warehouse in san francisco, while blockbuster has a distribution center the size of 8 football fields in texas, as well as thousands of stores that can handle most orders almost immediately. I don't know about you, but i want my movies when i want them, not when my list rolls around to something thats available.

/rant.

[Edited on Aug 12, 2004 8:22AM]

p.s. blockbuster is no longer owned by viacom. tired of an undervalued stock (as wallstreet has been predicting the "death knell" for rental since the debut of pay-per-view), viacom essentially forced blockbuster to borrow enormous sums of money and buy itself from viacom at a handsome profit. do a tiny bit of fact checking people, or at least watch the news.

Does blockbuster edit the movies? I want some facts on this.

I'm almost certain that Blockbuster would stand behind you in the same way you just did for them. Did they ever raise the starting pay from minimum wage yet?

Blockbuster sent my $6.56 cent late fee to a collection agency. Screw them...

Who cares? I hope the two companies duke it out enough to offer free blowjobs to the first 1000 customers, and have such a fierce competition that both businesses walk away torn to shit. I got nothing against netflix, but I can agree with the douchebaggery that IS blockbuster. I should give a bit of credit to Blockbuster for trying to save its own skin in the light of more intelligant rivals.... ehhhhh, nah!

I did do my research, in fact. Currently, Blockbuster, Inc. is still attached as a subsidiary of Viacom. They are in the process of spinning it off completely, but it has not been finalized and probably won't be until the end of the third quarter. As of the date of this article, Blockbuster is still attached to Viacom and recently amended their filing for divestiture.

Sources: Motley Fool, TechWeb Syndication, Viacom Corporate Website, Blockbuster, Inc. Corporate Website, and Viacom's 10-Q Report to the Security and Exchange Commission.

Back in 2002, I did a lot of work for BB in Dallas, and was one of the software architects on a system exactly like this, with the stated goal of competing with Netflix. But the project was scrapped due to internal conflicts with the store division. The store division was worried that this would put the stores out of business.

I'm surprised this finally got out the door.

mine come from Tacoma
and i rarelly if ever have to wait more than 2 days for a film, thats shipping time from my end and theirs

Having worked as a manager for Blockbuster, I can say once I quit, I have NEVER rented from them again. The company is as short-sighted, penny-pinching and conservative as any I have ever worked for.

Look, if they want to position themselves as the family rental house, great. But the fact is, like most corporate entities, they want it both ways. No, they don't carry NC-17, but they do carry unrated movies and tons of crappy Skinamax style 'thrillers.' Why? Because they're cheap and they rent a lot.

About the time I quit they were requiring new hires to have a drug test--cause lord knows you don't want the guy renting you a movie to be stoned or anything. And yes, I was a Senior Assistant Manager and I was barely making above minimum wage.

Netflix rules. Simply put, they offer the widest selection out there. Period. I recently went into the video store I used to frequent (twice as big a selection as the Blockbuster I used to work out mind you) and they didn't have anything new I couldn't get at Netflix.

Walmart is the nation's largest employer (if memory serves), but the people who work there full time don't earn a living wage, are pressured into overtime without compensation, and are discouraged from organizing into unions. (Source: Nickel and Dimed: on not Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich). In spite of how many people they employ, I think America's workforce would be better off without them. Is Blockbuster that type of employer?

Happy Birthday

Shit, I worked at the local MovieGallery where they started you at minimum, and the nearest Blockbuster started at $7.00, not to mention they'd have some films that we just didn't get. We closed at 11 instead of midnight, so sometimes after closing I'd head to Blockbuster still in my uniform to rent their stuff.

thanks for the bday comment. every person who works at my store makes at least 75 cents more than minimum wage. this is pathetic, and not liveable, but it's still higher than any other place in this town. they have medical, vacation, and sick pay, and while it isn't somewhere to make a career unless you're going into management, I've had worse jobs.

as far as netflix distribution goes, I'm fairly sure that all orders are processed at the main center in sf, but I can't for the life of me remember where I saw this, so I'll concede the point. However, I still maintain that as a company with more than 8000 possible outlets to ship from, blockbuster has them beat on distribution channels. Honestly, unless blockbuster upper management runs this into the ground (which is entirely possible, I'll admit), netflix is in deep shit.

I'm not trying to say that blockbuster is "teh awesome," but I get tired of listening to people bitch and moan about how evil something is because it's a large chain. Most of the people I know who bitch about it are people who couldn't return their movies on time. You get no sympathy from me. Welcome to the real world. I work at the fucking place and get late fees, because I screw up and act irresponsibly some times. I don't bitch, I pay for them. I don't have an issue with netflix, I just happen to think alot of their customers are whiny douchebags.

And as someone on the inside to a degree, I can say with certainty: viacom has severed ties with blockbuster. we received notice before it was announced officially on the news in july. I will ammend my statement to say "viacom is dropping blockbuster like a bad habit." And if the blockbuster here required piss tests, they would never hire anyone.

editted because I can't type, apparently.

[Edited on Aug 12, 2004 12:41PM]

you know you can get them in your email, right? and yes, rewards is kinda bullshit, and I resent being forced to try to get everyone and their mom to buy it. people get ugly when you try to sell them something they've already said no to a dozen times.