Re: Blockbuster goes Blu-ray in the US and Canada
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Member since:
November 2007
November 2007
Quote:
I'll agree with none of you since niether of you have presented any actual facts to back up if renting is higher in sales than buying -- or vice-versa. So far you've all made an ass out of you and . . . whoever else
You see Tim, I don't need stats to prove I am right...I just know I am right because I am so smart and observant
I am willing to bet money on the fact that more movies are rented on any given day then purchased by consumers....and I bet it is by a large margin. Someone out there with more time than me can hunt for the stats to prove me wrong...please do!!!
Friday, May 16, 2008
Member since:
June 2006
June 2006
FYI... (recent update on Blockbuster)
> Blockbuster to test Digital Kiosk, and Simplier Pricing - excellent report of continued growth and profits - excerpt here...
CEO Jim Keyes said Blockbuster will roll out simplified pricing and terms this summer that he believes are superior to price reductions. In a previous investor call, Keyes said a visit to a Blockbuster store shortly after joining the company left him so confused about rental prices he vowed a change.
Edward Woo, research analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities in Los AngeIes, said the simplified pricing will include longer rental periods. “I assume a ‘simpler’ pricing plan will be good for customers, so it should be good for its sales and comps,” he said.
Keyes cited ongoing improvements in DVD stocking, which included a 60% in-stock availability for new releases in the first week, compared to 20% year. “We believe there are other better ways to compete for the customer than through price,” Keyes said.
He said Blockbuster would not charge a premium for Blu-ray rentals, characterizing the HD format “important” for sustaining profitable growth. By comparison, rival Netflix Inc. has stated it will charge a premium for Blu-ray rentals.
The Dallas-based DVD rental service in June will unveil a revamped edition of Movielink.com with a link to the company’s site. The download service features a catalog of more than 9,000 digital titles. -[READ MORE in full link above]-
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-JIMI McLovin (the Voodoo Child)
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Member since:
June 2006
June 2006
FYI... (Update on above news)
> Blockbuster Unveils Download Kiosk - 5/28/2008 - by By Paul Sweeting of Video Business
NEW YORK—Blockbuster chairman and CEO Jim Keyes unveiled a working model of the retailer’s planned in-store download kiosk Wednesday during the company’s annual shareholder meeting here.
The working model is one of two that will be used in a two-store pilot test starting within the next few weeks, Keyes said.
“We call it a test but it’s really a beta,” Keyes told reporters following the formal presentation. “The goal is to bring all the pieces together—the content, the aggregation, the device—to try to demonstrate consumer acceptance. Once we do that, we’ll be able to think about a broader test.”
The kiosk, built for Blockbuster by NCR, a leading maker of ATMs and other self-service machines, stands about eight feet high and features a touch screen for navigation as well as a display screen for showing trailers, key art, reviews and other graphic material.
Consumers insert a portable media player into a slot on the front of the kiosk, which then downloads the selected movies directly to the player’s hard drive or solid-state memory device.
Transfers currently take about two minutes, but Keyes said that new portable media players will cut the download time to about 30 seconds.
“We want it to be an ATM-type experience,” he said. “You wouldn’t stand at an ATM for two minutes waiting for it to process your transaction, and we don’t want our customers to have to wait that long.”
For now, the kiosks work only with the Archos Generation 5 portable media player, which Blockbuster will begin selling in-store. Eventually, however, the plan is for nearly any type of portable media player or storage device to be able to plug-in and accept movies from the kiosks.
Archos also is the manufacturer of the portable storage device used by Paris-based Moovyplay, a recently launched service in France that allows consumers to download movies to the device from in-store kiosks and play them back on a TV screen using a docking station attached to their TV set.
Keyes demonstrated a similar set-up on Wednesday. Blockbuster also will sell the docking stations.
“We’re concentrating on the portable market right now, because we think there’s a growing demand out there for portability in content,” he said. “But we’re also following what’s going on in various European markets closely.”
As always with any new distribution platform, one of the biggest hurdles Blockbuster faces in rolling out its kiosk plan is securing the rights from the studios. Keyes acknowledged that content on the kiosks will be “limited” at first, but he expects it to fill in as consumer acceptance grows.
Moovyplay managed to launch earlier this year with product from nearly all the major U.S. studios as well as several leading French distributors after multiple delays caused by holdups in the negotiations over rights.
Another reason for sticking with the Archos player for now is that its digital rights management has been fully vetted by the studios thanks to Moovyplay.
“The studios obviously have to approve each device and that takes time,” Keyes said. The in-store kiosk is just one component of a broad digital strategy spelled out by Keyes at the meeting.
Also teed up is a relaunch of Movielink in June through Blockbuster.com. The company also is working on a set-top box that will allow streaming movies downloaded from Blockbuster.com to the TV set, similar to the device announced last week by Netflix and Roku.
“We still think it’s early for set-top boxes,” Keyes said. “We could have rolled one out months ago, but we don’t want to invest too heavily in advance of the customer.”
Blockbuster also is working on an IPTV platform that could permit streaming directly to a TV without the need of a set-top box.
Keyes had little new to share on Blockbuster’s due diligence around Circuit City, which Blockbuster has proposed acquiring for about $1 billion.
“All I can tell you at this point is that we’re still looking to complete the due diligence as quickly as possible so we can make a decision about proceeding [with the proposed deal] or getting back to what we’re already doing,” Keyes said.
He said the acquisition of Circuit City would give Blockbuster “large footprint” stores that would allow a full presentation of entertainment devices and software. Those would complement Blockbuster’s current “standard footprint” locations as well as a possible rollout of “small footprint” locations that would rely more heavily on kiosks and vending machines.
All of Blockbuster’s nine sitting directors, including Keyes and former dissident shareholder Carl Icahn, were easily reelected to the board by shareholders. -[END]-
_____________
-JIMI McLovin (the Voodoo Child)
> Blockbuster Unveils Download Kiosk - 5/28/2008 - by By Paul Sweeting of Video Business
NEW YORK—Blockbuster chairman and CEO Jim Keyes unveiled a working model of the retailer’s planned in-store download kiosk Wednesday during the company’s annual shareholder meeting here.
The working model is one of two that will be used in a two-store pilot test starting within the next few weeks, Keyes said.
“We call it a test but it’s really a beta,” Keyes told reporters following the formal presentation. “The goal is to bring all the pieces together—the content, the aggregation, the device—to try to demonstrate consumer acceptance. Once we do that, we’ll be able to think about a broader test.”
The kiosk, built for Blockbuster by NCR, a leading maker of ATMs and other self-service machines, stands about eight feet high and features a touch screen for navigation as well as a display screen for showing trailers, key art, reviews and other graphic material.
Consumers insert a portable media player into a slot on the front of the kiosk, which then downloads the selected movies directly to the player’s hard drive or solid-state memory device.
Transfers currently take about two minutes, but Keyes said that new portable media players will cut the download time to about 30 seconds.
“We want it to be an ATM-type experience,” he said. “You wouldn’t stand at an ATM for two minutes waiting for it to process your transaction, and we don’t want our customers to have to wait that long.”
For now, the kiosks work only with the Archos Generation 5 portable media player, which Blockbuster will begin selling in-store. Eventually, however, the plan is for nearly any type of portable media player or storage device to be able to plug-in and accept movies from the kiosks.
Archos also is the manufacturer of the portable storage device used by Paris-based Moovyplay, a recently launched service in France that allows consumers to download movies to the device from in-store kiosks and play them back on a TV screen using a docking station attached to their TV set.
Keyes demonstrated a similar set-up on Wednesday. Blockbuster also will sell the docking stations.
“We’re concentrating on the portable market right now, because we think there’s a growing demand out there for portability in content,” he said. “But we’re also following what’s going on in various European markets closely.”
As always with any new distribution platform, one of the biggest hurdles Blockbuster faces in rolling out its kiosk plan is securing the rights from the studios. Keyes acknowledged that content on the kiosks will be “limited” at first, but he expects it to fill in as consumer acceptance grows.
Moovyplay managed to launch earlier this year with product from nearly all the major U.S. studios as well as several leading French distributors after multiple delays caused by holdups in the negotiations over rights.
Another reason for sticking with the Archos player for now is that its digital rights management has been fully vetted by the studios thanks to Moovyplay.
“The studios obviously have to approve each device and that takes time,” Keyes said. The in-store kiosk is just one component of a broad digital strategy spelled out by Keyes at the meeting.
Also teed up is a relaunch of Movielink in June through Blockbuster.com. The company also is working on a set-top box that will allow streaming movies downloaded from Blockbuster.com to the TV set, similar to the device announced last week by Netflix and Roku.
“We still think it’s early for set-top boxes,” Keyes said. “We could have rolled one out months ago, but we don’t want to invest too heavily in advance of the customer.”
Blockbuster also is working on an IPTV platform that could permit streaming directly to a TV without the need of a set-top box.
Keyes had little new to share on Blockbuster’s due diligence around Circuit City, which Blockbuster has proposed acquiring for about $1 billion.
“All I can tell you at this point is that we’re still looking to complete the due diligence as quickly as possible so we can make a decision about proceeding [with the proposed deal] or getting back to what we’re already doing,” Keyes said.
He said the acquisition of Circuit City would give Blockbuster “large footprint” stores that would allow a full presentation of entertainment devices and software. Those would complement Blockbuster’s current “standard footprint” locations as well as a possible rollout of “small footprint” locations that would rely more heavily on kiosks and vending machines.
All of Blockbuster’s nine sitting directors, including Keyes and former dissident shareholder Carl Icahn, were easily reelected to the board by shareholders. -[END]-
_____________
-JIMI McLovin (the Voodoo Child)
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Member since:
January 2008
January 2008
Jimi, I'm curious, what's the point in subscribing to both NetFlix and Blockbuster Total Access?
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Member since:
June 2006
June 2006
FR inquired -
Short summary... it's convenient, I can afford it, and I don't have to wait as long for new releases to be in stock and available [since I have two accounts that I can go between].
Detailed summary...
- I purchased my first DVD player in the fall of 1998, and then joined Netflix sometime in 1999. This was back in the early years (of DVD), when you could NOT find anywhere locally to rent discs, and even Blockbuster didn't rent DVDs until several years later (in-store only at first, online later).
So, I've had a Netflix membership for almost 10 years now. When Blockbuster several years ago began renting DVDs online as well (around 2004-05), I responded to one of their promo offers and joined.
See, even though Netflix is overall very good, they also have a bad habit of 'THROTTLING' (towards heavy volume renters), and you start seeing discs arrive from Netflx service centers out of your area, and even out of state (which means the discs take longer to be received, and longer to get returned back). Also, you might see more of your movie choices in your queve labeled "short wait", "long wait", and "very long wait". Sure, it's normal for not every disc you selected to be available all of time when they have so many more online members nationwide (around 7 million, compared to 3.25 million for Blockbuster - although Blockbuster has more overall, when combined with their large local in-store memberships).
And sometimes a movie is carried by one company, but not the other. I've noticed this before, with one movie I remember from several months back, Brotherhood of the Wolf - Netflix did not carry it, but Blockbuster does. Likewise, Netflix has some titles that Blockbuster doesn't, so it's an even trade off here.
Now, a few years ago Blockbuster started the outstanding TOTAL ACCESS membership enhancement, a move even more revolutionary than the 'online' DVD rental service that Netflix started. With TA, not only do you receive discs in your regular online membership price, but you can also get FREE in-store disc rentals (DVD or Blu-ray) simply by returning the online disc at your local store (rather than mailing back to the local service center)! And Blockbuster gives one MORE (extra) free monthly movie or video game rental, by printing out a coupon online and then using at your local store.
Note: if you are a newer TA member over the past year, Blockbuster now limits those "FREE" in-store rental exchanges to 5 a month (on their 3-discs-out at a time online rental plan). However, for some like myself, who've been with TA since day one, I can receive unlimited free rentals when returning my online rental discs locally. There's been a few times where I've received 8 or 9 free in-store rentals in a single month, all by not mailing my online rentals back, but instead taking them to the local store for check-in. Immediately their computer is notified of my next online queve selection, and -that- next disc is mailed, while I leave the store with a FREE bonus rental disc as well, including BLU-RAY titles now!
But why the dual memberships (Netflix and Blockbuster)? As I said, I can afford it, but am thinking about lowering my Netflix 3-discs-out at a time plan ($16.99) down to just 1-disc-out at a time ($8.99), as lately I don't have as much time to watch the movies as fast as previously, including spending time with the bonus features (especiallyon Blu-ray discs). And Netflix recently said they are GOING TO RAISE THEIR MONTHLY MEMBERSHIP PRICES sometime this year for those who rent Blu-rays.
Still, the prices are reasonable and affordable. Shoot, I spend roughtly $10 to $15 (on average) for a night out eating dinner - on a single meal, so $16.99 a month (Netflix) and $19.99 a month (Blockbuster) is a bargain, even with Netflix raising their prices later this year.
So, I hope this answers why someone would have memberships in both services. I've heard others state they have both too (here on this Msd Bd, and elsewhere). Still, some people no longer want to visit a local video store (Blockbuster), since it's convenient to browse the huge online selection of titles at home, and receive by mail - less time and gas expense (going to the store). I don't mind either way, and my local Blockbuster is only half a mile from my house!
_____________
-JIMI McLovin (the Voodoo Child)
[Post edited by Love Hendrix! on Jun 1, 2008]
Quote:
"Jimi, I'm curious, what's the point in subscribing to both NetFlix and Blockbuster Total Access?"
Short summary... it's convenient, I can afford it, and I don't have to wait as long for new releases to be in stock and available [since I have two accounts that I can go between].
Detailed summary...
- I purchased my first DVD player in the fall of 1998, and then joined Netflix sometime in 1999. This was back in the early years (of DVD), when you could NOT find anywhere locally to rent discs, and even Blockbuster didn't rent DVDs until several years later (in-store only at first, online later).So, I've had a Netflix membership for almost 10 years now. When Blockbuster several years ago began renting DVDs online as well (around 2004-05), I responded to one of their promo offers and joined.
See, even though Netflix is overall very good, they also have a bad habit of 'THROTTLING' (towards heavy volume renters), and you start seeing discs arrive from Netflx service centers out of your area, and even out of state (which means the discs take longer to be received, and longer to get returned back). Also, you might see more of your movie choices in your queve labeled "short wait", "long wait", and "very long wait". Sure, it's normal for not every disc you selected to be available all of time when they have so many more online members nationwide (around 7 million, compared to 3.25 million for Blockbuster - although Blockbuster has more overall, when combined with their large local in-store memberships).
And sometimes a movie is carried by one company, but not the other. I've noticed this before, with one movie I remember from several months back, Brotherhood of the Wolf - Netflix did not carry it, but Blockbuster does. Likewise, Netflix has some titles that Blockbuster doesn't, so it's an even trade off here.
Now, a few years ago Blockbuster started the outstanding TOTAL ACCESS membership enhancement, a move even more revolutionary than the 'online' DVD rental service that Netflix started. With TA, not only do you receive discs in your regular online membership price, but you can also get FREE in-store disc rentals (DVD or Blu-ray) simply by returning the online disc at your local store (rather than mailing back to the local service center)! And Blockbuster gives one MORE (extra) free monthly movie or video game rental, by printing out a coupon online and then using at your local store.
Note: if you are a newer TA member over the past year, Blockbuster now limits those "FREE" in-store rental exchanges to 5 a month (on their 3-discs-out at a time online rental plan). However, for some like myself, who've been with TA since day one, I can receive unlimited free rentals when returning my online rental discs locally. There's been a few times where I've received 8 or 9 free in-store rentals in a single month, all by not mailing my online rentals back, but instead taking them to the local store for check-in. Immediately their computer is notified of my next online queve selection, and -that- next disc is mailed, while I leave the store with a FREE bonus rental disc as well, including BLU-RAY titles now!
But why the dual memberships (Netflix and Blockbuster)? As I said, I can afford it, but am thinking about lowering my Netflix 3-discs-out at a time plan ($16.99) down to just 1-disc-out at a time ($8.99), as lately I don't have as much time to watch the movies as fast as previously, including spending time with the bonus features (especiallyon Blu-ray discs). And Netflix recently said they are GOING TO RAISE THEIR MONTHLY MEMBERSHIP PRICES sometime this year for those who rent Blu-rays.
Still, the prices are reasonable and affordable. Shoot, I spend roughtly $10 to $15 (on average) for a night out eating dinner - on a single meal, so $16.99 a month (Netflix) and $19.99 a month (Blockbuster) is a bargain, even with Netflix raising their prices later this year.
So, I hope this answers why someone would have memberships in both services. I've heard others state they have both too (here on this Msd Bd, and elsewhere). Still, some people no longer want to visit a local video store (Blockbuster), since it's convenient to browse the huge online selection of titles at home, and receive by mail - less time and gas expense (going to the store). I don't mind either way, and my local Blockbuster is only half a mile from my house!
_____________
-JIMI McLovin (the Voodoo Child)
[Post edited by Love Hendrix! on Jun 1, 2008]
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Member since:
March 2002
March 2002
