Posted on 01/02/2005 11:07:50 AM PST by MississippiMasterpiece
It's quite an epic, watching Blockbuster die.
The nation's No. 1 video chain hopes to prolong its life with a hostile bid for the No. 2 video-store chain, Hollywood Entertainment. But make no mistake - it's dying. The whole video- store industry is dying, too. Meanwhile some high-rolling financiers are picking over the corpses.
Renegade capitalist Carl Icahn has emerged as the largest investor in both Texas-based Blockbuster and Oregon- based Hollywood. Icahn is trying to put the chains together in a $1 billion deal. He'll most likely try to turn a fast buck with synergies, economies of scale, cost- cutting, restructurings, refinancings and perhaps a little bit of that old-time merger accounting.
Before Icahn's move, Leonard Green & Partners, a storied California-based investment group, bid for Hollywood. The firm, however, lowered its offer after having a close look at the books.
Alabama-based Movie Gallery, the No. 3 chain, also made an offer for Hollywood. So now, there's a testy little auction - replete with hostile takeover threats - making regular headlines.
The truth is that combining Hollywood with any other video-store chain is like handcuffing two drunks together. They could prop up each other for a while, but they are bound to stumble.
This is why entertainment giant Viacom divested itself of Blockbuster in October. Viacom's brass said they believed Blockbuster would be better off on its own. What they meant was that Viacom would be better off without Blockbuster.
Shortly after the spinoff, Blockbuster took a $1.5 billion charge against earnings to account for its declining value. As a result, Blockbuster posted a $1.26 billion loss on $4.33 billion in revenues for the first nine months of 2004.
To be sure, Blockbuster, Hollywood and other video stores still throw off plenty of cash and have seized video games as a new source of revenue. But their glory days are long behind them.
One reason they are still alive is because cable and satellite providers have failed to deliver a respectable array of competitively priced pay-per-view choices.
Another reason is that movie studios have propped up video stores as cash cows. Studios send their movies to theaters, then video retailers, and then to TV outlets. The window when new releases were only available in video stores gave Blockbuster its appeal.
But movie studios have learned they can make more money by flooding the market with inexpensive DVDs for sale at the same time they release them to video stores for rent.
That gives consumers an intriguing choice: Why pay $4 to rent when you can buy for $12 to $20 and not worry about pesky late charges while building up a personal video library?
Cheap, lightweight DVDs are easily mailed, too. This feature gave rise to Netflix, which pioneered the online, mail-order subscription model. Unfortunately, this idea is so widely copied - by Wal-Mart, Blockbuster and soon even Amazon.com - that Netflix's days are also numbered.
Meanwhile, McDonald's is experimenting in Denver with kiosks that dispense rental DVDs for $1 in a bid to drive traffic to their food counters. Supermarkets, pharmacies, convenience stores and bookstores also sell or rent DVDs for the same reason.
Then there's TiVo and other digital video recorders, including ones from Comcast and EchoStar. Why suffer long lines and slow-witted clerks at Blockbuster when you can record what you want from TV and fast-forward through commercials?
Just before Christmas, Blockbuster said it would lower its monthly fee from $17.49 to $14.99 for its Netflix-like service. That announcement came shortly after Blockbuster said it would cut late fees for in-store rentals. Blockbuster said it expects to lose income of between $250 million and $300 million for 2005 as a result of eliminating late fees.
Imagine that. Taking a quarter-billion dollars a year from customers who are too busy, too lazy or too forgetful to return their videos. This is a business model that deserves to die.
they are NOT scheduled showtimes...I can get it whenever I want...fast forward pause, stop, go back...all without a DVR...I happen to have a replay DVR on one of my 3 TVs, but this service works on all three with digital cable boxes...
It's really pretty cool...
Yep. Thats why I use Netflix. I have had a few movies for 2 weeks b/c I just haven't had time to watch them. No big deal.
After I bought and then watched the worst move ever made - Lost In Translation - I swore to never buy a movie without watching it first again. Thus: Netflix.
We got a nice installation package. Free installs in 4 Rooms, 2 w/ HDTV, two with DVR. Of course we have to pay the monthly fees for each of those, but it was cool getting the installation done. We'll have the dual tuner thing and will only have the one dish. SSQ is looking forward to finding some good movies and putting them on the hard drive so we can burn them onto DVDs in HD. ;o) I'm curious about the long distance learning opportunities through the U. of AZ since our 11th grade daughter is homeschooled.
Same here. I haven't darkened the doorway of a Blockbuster for months. Their selection of movies is lousy. Netflix has tons of movies, and I don't have to worry about late fees. Does not getting a DVD back on time to avoid the huge late fee make me lazy? No, it usually means that "life happened", and I couldn't get there in time with the DVD to avoid the fee. Sometimes it meant not watching the movie because "stuff happened" and getting it back to avoid the late fee. No such issues with Netflix.
Marajade,
You wrote:
"Their support of full frame whether than widescreen movies for rental."
I'm with you completely on this one. Why would anyone want to watch a "full-screen" version of a movie? Watch it the way it was intended.
My wife and I are big movie buffs, but even she had a tough time at first with "wide-screen". She couldn't get past the feeling that something was being cut off (the black bars top and bottom) until I showed her that it was actually in "full screen" that a part of the picture was being cropped. She's never looked back.
Brian
Yep. Even with this problem, I still prefer Netflix.
I rented a DVD from Hollywood Video. Took it home, and it did not work. So I had to go all the way back to the store, but they had no more of that DVD. So they offered to let me rent it for free, when they got it in. They had it on video so I asked if I could just get that. Nope, the free rental would only apply to the DVD, and they of course had no idea when the DVD would be back. That was it for me. Netflix all the way.
If that's all you said, I would have had no problem with you. But you went quite a bit further than that. No, the point of your reply was to excoriate the poster under a false understanding of what constitutes the "rules".
Furthermore, it's entirely reasonable to whine about rules if you're obeying them anyway. It's the folks that don't obey the rules and complain when Blockbuster terminates their contract that ought to tick you off.
As I said in my earlier post, Blockbuster's initial late fee structure was IMO quite reasonable, and it benefitted their bottom line to boot. Their more recent late fee structure was ill-conceived. And since I never attempted to circumvent it, I'm quite justified in complaining about it.
They had a late fee policy. Live with it, don't complain or don't rent from them. Seems simple enough to me.
Ah, so it's a policy now? So do you concede, then, that if I accept the terms of their late fee policy, by paying the fees when appropriate, that I am not "breaking the rules" simply by keeping a video for an extra day?
http://www.universityhouse.nau.edu/
Far as I know, they do have secondary language classes on there.
PBSYou has something for everyone, heck, I watch some of the programming on the special interest channels myself. LOL
That's right, it's Northern Arizona Univ.! Thanks for that link, we'll start checking it out. I hope they have Japanese in their language classes, cause that's what our daughter is teaching herself.
Wow! Japanese? Cool! People who learn a second language like Japanese, Chinese or Russian impress me.
There's a couple of other learning channels aside from Universityhouse and PBS You. One is UWTV, from the Univ. of Washington and the other is UCTV from the Univ of California system. The downside of those two channels is, they're more geared toward adults, as the cirricula is way beyond that of a young teen. (read: college level).
As a matter of fact, I just got back from taking her to her first college English class! She's taking a two week Writing course during the Community College's 'intersession' between the fall and spring semesters. She'll get a full 3 credits for it!
Thanks for the information...for some reason I thought the Hercules (Aussies used) might be of a later generation of the Hughes'"Hercules" transport aka "Spruce Goose".
Buy her a 16x9 TV and widescreen won't bother her at all.
Post #77 you totally nailed it.
That was the kicker for me, too.
I have Netflix as well. The turn around is decent enough, and my girls are enjoying the same programs I did as a kid.
Most of what is put out in movies and on TV is garbage. I like the idea of having them see stuff that was on before TV needed to be rated!
:)
I can watch old movies on TCM and Starz and the new movies are horrible. Why would I rent them?
Sorry Hollywood. Your movies suck beyond belief. I won't pay for junk that I can see on TV in a few months.
I'll pay the $3.99 to Directv for the 3 or 4 movies per year that are worth paying for.
Post #87 is a good one too. Brilliant analysis of blockbuster's late fees.
We have a video rental place in town that is entirely niche.
Specializes in horror films and hard to rent flicks.
It has thrillers from all over the world all the way back to Nosferatu.
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