Digital Home Thoughts - News & Reviews for the Digital Home

"In an attempt to ensure that theay aren't lef tbehind in the digital content stakes Redbox and Verizon are partnering up and hoping to steal a march on Netflix, the encumbent market leader for streaming video and DVDs."

Redbox machines have been popping up all over the place and has replaced Netflix for many as the go to place for renting DVDs. Now, Redbox is looking to take the fight to the streaming video realm by teaming up with Verizon. Plans have not been announced yet but it is anticipated Redbox will be looking to leverage their 35,000+ DVD kiosk as an added bonus to streaming plans.

"After dominating the home video rental business for more than a decade and struggling to survive in recent years against upstarts Netflix and Redbox, Blockbuster Inc. is preparing to file for bankruptcy next month, according to people who have been briefed on the matter."

The writing has been on the wall for this one for a while now. I'm sure Blockbuster will be a case study in business textbooks in the future as a lesson to never be too comfortable as market king. They unfortunately used their leadership position to abuse their customers and were far to reactionary to major changes in the market. Redbox and Netflix have just torn them apart.

"I heard about Blockbuster getting an exclusivity deal with Warner Bros. to rent their new movie titles 28 days before any competitor is able to, but I didn’t realize that it was immediate and would affect all forms of delivery and sales (see press release below). As you can see in the image above, The Blind Side through Blockbuster is available in-store, by mail, and on-demand. Netflix and redbox… no dice."

This is just life support for Blockbuster. It is in Warner Bros. best interested to keep them around, but I'm betting they know Blockbuster is all but dead and just didn't want to even waste their time negotiating for the delayed rental window. Like a lot of other Netflix users, I have tons in my queue, I don't go to the theater anyway, so waiting an extra month is not a big deal. I used to be a fan of Blockbuster, but they were dedicated in their intent to drive me away and were finally successful a few years ago.