Blockbuster considers filing for bankrupty
 

i wonder how the uk end is doing.

they are huge in the uk.

i would have thought that people would rent more as people stay at home more.

They already closed down few stores in my city

They've been losing money for a decade. Only one profitable year in 10.

They went from $5 billion in equity a decade ago to $600 million recently.

good. it's an outdated business model. I can get everything via the net/vudu/netflix/etc screw blockbuster

5 mins later yahoo changed all text text...and making it sound less then I read 5 mins. ago

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...iRqFo&refer=us

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/worl...ers-bankruptcy

Here are the original texts I read earlier on Yahoo.

Video rental stores lost the battle. Internet has taken over I guess.
Here in Holland the market leader that has 80% of all stores just laid off 15% off it's staff and one guy I know with 35 stores went bust a week ago.

I used to work there. No great loss.

Cheap sell thru dvd's, internet (legal & illegal) just was the drop that spilled their buckets

.iso downloads could still work I think.
I hate to bring back the dvds (I always bring them back too late and get the stupid fines)

fucking economy

adapt or die, they came into the online game too late.

I dont think that the international arm of the company is in any pain. They are the ONLY thing here and because the internet speeds are not fast enough most people dont bother.

Dinosaur

The small guys (store owners) never had any chance. The have no tech background or online marketing knowledge.

The legal download market is being "sabotaged" by the big studios. I talk to some of them in the UK and Holland like Sony and Warner. They want a million in advance for a handfull of older movies, we can make 15% max. profits (incl. payment systems costs and affiliate commissions) AND they want so much DRM and silly prices compared to dvd prices in stores, it just has no change for a legal download market to be successful.

Or other silly things like; gimme 10K per movie minimum guarantee (just for Holland), use it one month, then switch it of for 14 months because a tv channel gets it exclusive during that time....pffff. These guys don't understand the "sharing" that makes the internet so big, they want all for themselves.

like i said in my death pool thread for mainstream businesses, the one or two stores by my house are always dead. i have never rented a dvd from either. i buy all my stuff on IPTV. apple tv, and cable company movies on demand. they have them the same day the dvd comes out to the blockbusters. why pick up a video to have to drive it back.

they will die soon.

Raffi is right on his IPTV theory :2 cents:

True. IPTV, settop boxes, tv/cable/vod are taking over now.

same here... I do have a membership at a local store, only for the impulse video, that i must see today.

I think Netflix made them obsolete.

Renting movies is not the problem. It's driving there and drive back a day later that people hate (and late fines).

well for rentals sure I rent more form Amazon than going to the video store. I'm not sure about buying a digital download. They are filled with DRM and you're pretty much limited where you can view that content. With an actual DVD I can play it in a multiple number of devices I can take it with me anywhere. If I buy a digital download from XBL, PSN or Apple I'm pretty much stuck playing it on that device.

Also there are many people that don't have access to broadband and thus are pretty much stuck with renting from a store. Not to mention ISPs in the US are starting to institute caps. Until the ISPs in the US expand to the more rural areas and drop the caps physical media will be around for awhile.

Fuck..

they are to big to fail, Risk Systemic, must apply bailout package.

inject capitol, partial nationalization, that should do the trick

I pay blockbuster at least 500 dollars a year...

Also true. Why drive to a store when they would send it to your house (wether it's by normal post or by download/stream) ?

yah, netflix basically nailed their coffin shut.

Why don?t they use the new bankruptcy system? It is called a bail out. Bankruptcy is over we don?t need it anymore change is here!:thumbsup:1orglaugh

Mr. Romance

apple is discontinuing the drm. they realize people hate it. i don't know about other people but having 5 places you can watch it is plenty. iphone. apple tv. macbook pro. leaves two other licenses for what exactly? considering that a HD 1080p movie costs me 14.95 to buy compared to buying it at the cheapest prices say 29.95 for HD movies at BestBuy, I will take the drm sacrifice. I have no idea how i could use up 5 licenses for a movie, that is UNLESS people want to whore it out to friends and on the internet. there is nothing else in my home that needs a license.

i hear that the drm will be dropped in a short period of time.

I talked to someone who is in this industry yesterday while he was at a Blockbuster - he said he found the "Pirates2" in there in the regular section! Maybe that is the solution to their problems? hehe

DRM sucks when you are a consumer. I agree.
I buy a legal download for music and the stuff won't play in my car.
When I download a legal video, by the time I have time to actually watch it, the stuff expired already.

The cover does look that good :thumbsup
Craig did a good job with part 1 & 2

I like Netflix better also
what happened today with BBI was very strange, it seems that "somebody" tried to make the market think that it was going bankrupt (perhaps "Mr Shark" Ica...?)
The motive--> take advantage of what happened Monday with the market, add that rumor this morning to the market, then provoke panic between investors who behaved as was expected: irrationally.
A spokeswomen from BBI just said this afternoon they are looking only for financial advise with that firm, NOT bankruptcy. Funny, as she or some top executive could have said that earlier, but nooooo, they waited until the market closed, and not before as there was plenty of blood still to suck from the poor stockholders who were in full panic. The stock bounced aftermarket, but not too much to recover from the Monday closing of almost $1. But enough for the big sharks to buy late very low and satisfy their greed. Again, the rich fuck the small investors, another story of "American Capitalism of the 21th Century"

download, yes. Mailed to my house, no. I don't get that part. I would never use Netflix just to get movies in the mail.

It's not the DRM idea itself that is bad for consumers, it's the part where it not always works for apple users (or other systems besides windows) that fucks it up in most cases or where the usage is consumer unfriendly/unclear.
I don't mind the DRM as a consumer as long as I can use/watch it on all my stuff (car stereo, iphone, cellphone, pc, tv, etc.).
If every human would have a unique IP adres and any device owned would have a sub, then it would be easy to give permissions and control all piracy without fucking over a consumer that actually wants to pay. But privacy laws get in the way I guess.

I wouldn't, but some people would I think.
If there is no store in a 25 miles radius, it's a good option.
Or if you just want a stack of movies at home so you can watch something when you have the time...
Not everybody understands websites/downloads/unzip/rar/p2p/etc. Most older people have no clue..they just want to touch the actual product or pay & watch with 2 clicks.

"But enough for the big sharks to buy late very low and satisfy their greed. Again, the rich fuck the small investors"
Has it ever been different since the beginning of recorded history ?

on MUSIC not movies. Which is the topic we are tlakinmg about.

No iphone, no apple TV, no mac. With a DVD I can take it to a friend house and plop it into his DVD player. Can you do that with your digital download? Nope. Digital downloads from XBox Live are not only tied to a 360 it's tied to the 360 you downloaded it to. If I fill up my measly 120 GB hard drive I have to delete some of my downloads. Sure I can re-download them later for free if I want to watch them, but that's a pain in the ass. Not to mention I'd have to delete something else.

Apple sells "HD" movies? That's odd no one else does. Not Amazon not XBL not PSN the best you can do is rent. Also those movies are not 1080p they are 720p. And if think a "HD" download is the same as a blu-ray you are very ingorant about how shit works. Blu-ray 40 Mbps bitrate "HD" download 6 Mbps bitrate. Talk about compressed all to shit.

I've dealt with them for years. Like the online side of it. I hate going to the store, but sometimes its good to be able to take my movies back to the store and get free movies, then they send me new ones out really quick too. Never any late fee's etc.

By the way notime I love the work you do on Good Eats. Great show you have there.

If sales are slow downsize until you turn a profit. You don't keep running the biz until it fails using the same model. You think it would be easy, right?

That is the same thing we do.

Do explain please. I don't get it (I know I am blond and have alzheimer...)

Consolidation these days is a good & really smart or even nessecary thing to do. [FREE ADVISE]
There is still enough to be made but we all need to be carefull and do a little step back till stuff recovers worldwide.

Lynn,

Why is your skype named "stressmonkey" ?
Women are known to be able to do several things at the same time unlike men :winkwink:

yep they sure do. 1080p HD movies on apple tv. you are wrong they are 1080p. for sale. i have many many movies in 1080p. bought for 14.95.

i'm far more intelligent on many things that people don't think i am. no reason to try and educate people here, thats for sure.

http://www.gofuckyourself.com/image....ine=1232286793

Alton Brown

http://files.athletes-celebrities.ts...on-160-594.jpg

That's just my tranny twin brother :1orglaugh So that ain't me :upsidedow
I do like your baby seal sig pic though :thumbsup

Really? Where is the 1080p?

"iTunes Store purchased video: 320 by 240 pixels, 640 by 480 pixels, 720 by 480 pixels (anamorphic), or high-definition 720p "

http://www.apple.com/appletv/specs.html

It's the new government Rev-share :1orglaugh
1 If Rev=<0 then=bailout, if not=:Oh crap
goto 1
run

There are a bunch of dark blockbusters and Hollywood videos around. depressing stuff, but you could see it coming