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Blockbuster to offer Apple TV rival this month?

updated 09:30 am EDT, Thu April 10, 2008

Blockbuster Apple TV Rival

Blockbuster today is subject to rumors which claim the movie rental house is developing its own networked media hub. Similar to stand-alone devices such as the Apple TV or the Vudu, the unnamed project would let users watch Internet-streamed movies on TV and would take advantage of Blockbuster's union with Movielink to supply the content, with an unnamed electronics maker assembling the hardware itself. The device could be announced as early this month, though it may not be available until at least May.

A spokeswoman for the video store declines to confirm or deny the rumor but says it's "not surprising" that it exists in light of Blockbuster's wider digital initiative. The company has already set out plans for digital download kiosks for portable media players and a download service for cellphones, both of which are meant to recover the company's ailing physical video rental business.

An effort by Blockbuster would compete both with Apple and Vudu services but also an officially revealed effort by Netflix, which is teaming up with LG to produce a system similar to the Blockbuster model with its own media streaming device that would also offer movies from an existing Internet service through TVs.

 
Previous Comments

effective

04/10, 09:36am reply

hmm,

Isn't this the same company that took the netflix model, offered a smaller variety of movies for a little less money, and then abandoned it after a short period of time?

What makes them think they will succeed at this? The one thing that streaming provides is ease of use, but they will probably have a small range of movies.

And there is (for now) a huge sacrifice in quality.

dynsight

Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: May 2005

0

good luck with that

04/10, 09:44am reply

that smell is the whiff of desperation from Blockbuster as they realize they have no way of replacing their bricks-and-mortar business model and they are also reaping what they sowed with their predatory late-fee policies which at one time made up 1/3 of their revenue.

FU, Antioco.

climacs

Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Sep 2001

0

Give me a plugin...

04/10, 10:02am reply

for my Apple TV to watch movies off of Netflix and I would be one happy camper. As much as I dislike subscriptions for music they work very well for movies/shows, like Netflix. If you could stream them, with a library as big as Netflix's, THAT would be the cat's meow...

mgpalma

Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Sep 2000

0

another "Me too!"

04/10, 10:41am reply

It'd be one thing if they were rolling a service like this out when when they announce it, but to say you're just now starting? That doesn't just emit and odor of desperation, it's an all-out olfactory offense!

"Don't worry, were trying to catch up," is all that says to me. Once again, Apple innovates, then sets a trend, and everyone else chases tail-lights. Personally, I think BB would be better off sticking to the physical media side.

danviento

Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Dec 2005

0

Freebies

04/10, 10:58am reply

Blockbuster has 15 days of freebies. Duck in, duck out; by beating the system with simple email address changes. They need to code a little deeper

starwarrior

Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Mar 2006

0

shhh!

04/10, 11:15am reply

Pipe down, Star! We could have used their free trial period for a couple of months, easy by creating new gmail names. Too late now. ;-)

danviento

Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Dec 2005

0

Interesting...

04/10, 11:20am reply

This is just another attempt by Blockbuster to keep up with the new demand of people renting movies from online sites. They're trying to cut into Netflix and the other rental services' profits, and they're trying to keep up so they don't fade away.

There's a bit more discussion about this going on here: http://www.speculationcentral.com/

Dragonfire

Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Apr 2008

0

They're trying

04/10, 02:05pm reply

I simply don't like BB and I abandoned them long ago. They are one of these companies that instead of just offering a good service at a fair price, they try to promote what looks like a great deal to the consumer, but then has all these strings attached resulting in a consumer screwed over.

That being said, I have to give them credit for gauging the pulse of the movie rental business; they adopted the Netflix movie rental through the mail model and incorporated it into it's BM business. The writing is on the wall as far as streaming media is concerned and BB as least has the sense to see it. Regardless of what I and others may think of BB, they still have a large base and could very well transform itself to keep up with the times.

slider

Mac Elite

Joined: Oct 1999

0

danviento

04/10, 03:12pm reply

Sorry

Just so proud of being good. Had to tell someone. Not to worry though, BB never listens to the customer. They do have a better available selection than Netflix. No one seems to be empting their shelves. Used BB for awhile until they figured I was a fast user. They raised fees and seemed glad that I dropped out.

starwarrior

Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Mar 2006

0

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