Blockbuster Gets a 28 Delay on Kiosks For Warner Bros Movies

[TheDickWard]

Blockbuster loses the edge - at least in their kiosks.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/17/b...28-days-after/

[balsho]

If this spreads to their total access somehow I guess renting new releases will be dead.

[OneManShow]

I wouldn't be suprised if the 28 day window eventually went for all new releases for their online service just like netflix and redbox. I think Blockbuster's strategy is trying to push people back into their stores by making new releases only available in the stores for the first 28 days, and they raised their prices by taking away the $1.99 per night option. I went into a Blockbuster store for the first time in ages today because I really want to see The Town, and I didn't want to wait on netflix. They ONLY offer $4.99 new release rentals for 3 nights, and no longer offer the $1.99 rental for one night due to their new share holders policy. I told the manager that the new policy isn't competitive at all and walked out. The Blockbuster stores will most likely go out of business with stupid policies like that. I'm not paying $4.99 for one stinkin' rental. I'd rather wait it out for netflix, and I'll keep checking my local redbox kiosks whenever I'm near them.

[Mark Booth]

Bravo to Warner for forcing Blockbuster to adhere to the same 28 day kiosk restrictions THAT BLOCKBUSTER CONVINCED THE STUDIOS TO FORCE UPON REDBOX, ETC.

Blockbuster is getting a taste OF THEIR OWN MEDICINE.

I use RedBox all the time. You couldn't pay me to go to a Blockbuster kiosk. F 'em!

Mark

[Boston007]

I haven't seen a BlockBuster kiosk ANYWHERE in my area. I saw a RedBox kiosk by one of the American Airlines gates at Logan Airport last night. I thought "That's a great place to put one". BlockBuster are LOSERS. I hope they go out of business. They've been ANTI-Consumer for years.

[Cochise]

Blockbuster loses the edge - at least in their kiosks.

If this spreads to their total access somehow I guess renting new releases will be dead.

Blockbuster didn't "lose their edge", and this won't be spreading to Total Access. NCR "lost their edge" - Blockbuster Express kiosks are owned and operated by NCR, they basically just license the Blockbuster name. Blockbuster only owns & operates their stores and By Mail service, which have no delays - they shipped me The Town on Friday and I had it Saturday.

I haven't seen a BlockBuster kiosk ANYWHERE in my area. I saw a RedBox kiosk by one of the American Airlines gates at Logan Airport last night. I thought "That's a great place to put one". BlockBuster are LOSERS. I hope they go out of business. They've been ANTI-Consumer for years.

Netflix blu-ray customers are LOSERS, for putting up with 28 day waits for new releases and fewer and fewer blu-ray catalog releases carried in stock. For instant gratification their streaming service is great, as long as you don't care anything about audio & video quality. I hope Blockbuster stays in business for a long time. For blu-ray customers, their By Mail service is far superior to Netflix, and if Blockbuster were to go out of business Netflix would be even more ANTI-Consumer in doing whatever they want and telling their customers to take or leave it. I was Netflix customer for several years and hate them with a passion.

[Boston007]

Netflix blu-ray customers are LOSERS, for putting up with 28 day waits for new releases and fewer and fewer blu-ray catalog releases carried in stock. For instant gratification their streaming service is great, as long as you don't care anything about audio & video quality. I hope Blockbuster stays in business for a long time. For blu-ray customers, their By Mail service is far superior to Netflix, and if Blockbuster were to go out of business Netflix would be even more ANTI-Consumer in doing whatever they want and telling their customers to take or leave it. I was Netflix customer for several years and hate them with a passion.

I canceled my Netflix membership. RedBox is fine for my needs.

[nmcmahan52]

netflix has always served my needs, streaming selection is good, i get to catch up on backlogs of movies i've always wanted to see (this was something blockbuster seriously lacked when i had their service) yeah they keep raising their prices so that pisses everyone off but they do it because they can, the demand is there

[Gojira]

Do you get the feeling that Warner has lost faith in Blockbuster's ability to bring the customer's back in at that $5 pricing scheme? Warner stated several months back that the 28 day window would eventually broaden (perhaps as long as 60 days)? Redbox already has an agreement that goes through 2012, so won't have to worry until after that. I for one still cannot understand how such an "anti-competitive", monopolistic scenario can even fly! What right does Blockbuster have to that 28 day exclusive window? Who is paying for it? Certainly not BB, as they simply cannot afford it. This puppetry is courtesy of studio manipulation (Universal, Warner, Fox--I am lookin' at you).

[Cochise]

Do you get the feeling that Warner has lost faith in Blockbuster's ability to bring the customer's back in at that $5 pricing scheme? Warner stated several months back that the 28 day window would eventually broaden (perhaps as long as 60 days)? Redbox already has an agreement that goes through 2012, so won't have to worry until after that. I for one still cannot understand how such an "anti-competitive", monopolistic scenario can even fly! What right does Blockbuster have to that 28 day exclusive window? Who is paying for it? Certainly not BB, as they simply cannot afford it. This puppetry is courtesy of studio manipulation (Universal, Warner, Fox--I am lookin' at you).

Well, I will say that one "trick" Warner has played is making only the single disc theatrical version only version of The Town available for rent. Even though Blockbuster by Mail had it listed as "Theatrical/Extended 2 disc", when it arrived Saturday I noticed the large "RENTAL" label on the disc, and sure enough it's only the 25GB disc with only the theatrical version & 2 puny extra features. So if you want the extended version of The Town, you have to buy it. I expect they'll be doing more tricks & gimmicks like this for new day & date releases. That's OK, they're still not going to get me to buy something I don't want to buy.

[chipvideo]

Do you get the feeling that Warner has lost faith in Blockbuster's ability to bring the customer's back in at that $5 pricing scheme? Warner stated several months back that the 28 day window would eventually broaden (perhaps as long as 60 days)? Redbox already has an agreement that goes through 2012, so won't have to worry until after that. I for one still cannot understand how such an "anti-competitive", monopolistic scenario can even fly! What right does Blockbuster have to that 28 day exclusive window? Who is paying for it? Certainly not BB, as they simply cannot afford it. This puppetry is courtesy of studio manipulation (Universal, Warner, Fox--I am lookin' at you).

You couldn't have said it any better. It is manipulation at its finest. Strong arming is anti cosumer in every way. I just hope and pray that consumers dont give in and buy the movie. They need to stand strong and just wait it out.

I would bet money on it that the studios are helping blockbuster "survive" to artificially inflate the cost to rent a movie compared to netflix $1/day rentals. If thats the case I see that as price fixing wich is illegal.

[Cinema Squid]

Netflix blu-ray customers are LOSERS, for putting up with 28 day waits for new releases and fewer and fewer blu-ray catalog releases carried in stock.

I mostly agree, except Netflix turnaround times are still ace for me and are basically as fast as physically possible. My experience with Blockbuster thus far has not matched that with lots of random delays of an extra day or two. I rent enough that I can justify having both Netflix and Blockbuster by-mail accounts so I get the best of both worlds... by-mail at least. In-store exchanges and kiosks don't interest me at all, since that's too much work on my part.

If I had to pick just one right now, it would certainly be Blockbuster - more for Netflix's inexplicable complete dropping of recently released catalog rather than for delays which really don't bother me. I don't mind waiting an extra month to rent something, but waiting forever is unacceptable.

[Quelargo]

I don't understand why the rental companies are going along with this. In the short term they must be getting kickbacks from the studios, but in the long term they are helping to put themselves out of business. Can anyone explain the logic behind this to me?

[ack_bak]

I don't understand why the rental companies are going along with this. In the short term they must be getting kickbacks from the studios, but in the long term they are helping to put themselves out of business. Can anyone explain the logic behind this to me?

They are getting movies at further discounts (mainly because they are no longer really new releases). The studios cannot stop the kiosk companies (or any rental company for that matter) from buying discs from retailers and renting them for $1. Redbox tried this when the studios started cracking down and they caved.

At the end of the day the studios think their content is worth more than $1 per night. Personally, I think it is somewhere in between. But the 28 day delays suck, and Warner and Universal are threatening to extend these 28 day delays to 45+ delays.

It is going to get worse.

[Vidfreek]

Tried Blockbuster through the mail a while back and decided never to return, lack of selection of what I personally watch the most (older catalog and B movie horror type stuff) and turn around time was horrible compared to Netflix, have gone off and on as a member of Netflix but am staying put right now with their streaming only solution, I buy a lot of the movies I want to see so I'm not too worried about brand new releases to rent somewhere.

On top of that I will never support Blockbuster again, their consumer hatred (at least it feels like that to me) with super high prices and terrible customer service tactics will never have me supporting them again, they deserve to go down for not bothering to adjust to where this stuff is moving too and trying to stick with STILL ripping people off, either way rental stores are on their way out for good anyways, if they survive with only through the mail, they better step up the game as Netflix is way better and WAY ahead of them, On Demand from your cable provider, Netflix and convenient Redbox quick stops are going to be the norm every where and if the studios want to go to a wait to rent model for all these newer cheap alternatives, there is nothing we can do to stop them. They either comply or they dont get the movies at all....its that simple and myself, I can wait a while for a new release to come by, I dont HAVE to see anything the day it comes out, as most movies I see at the theater or I just wait so many months for it to come out to purchase, waiting one more month for it to show up on Netflix or something isnt much more to worry about