Blockbuster extends store, online link
Stops offering two lowest-priced subscription plans
By Cindy Spielvogel -- Video Business, 10/18/2006
OCT. 18 | Blockbuster Video is expected to roll out nationally the in-store return option for Blockbuster Online rentals under the name Total Access within the next few weeks. The company also has dropped its two lowest-priced online subscription plans, $5.99 and $7.99 monthly.
A Blockbuster spokeswoman confirmed the elimination of the two low-priced plans, saying they were part of a test program that is no longer available, but would not confirm the in-store return rollout. She confirmed only that the online/in-store test has expanded beyond the original market, Colorado Springs.
Under the online/in-store model, subscribers can return a movie they rented through the online system to a bricks-and-mortar Blockbuster store in a sealed return envelope. The customer might then receive a free in-store rental, subject to normal in-store rental rules, including no late fees.
This allows the Blockbuster Online subscriber the option of getting a new movie the same day they return it, instead of waiting for a new one to be mailed.
The two low-priced online rental plans were in place for only a few months. Blockbuster also has eliminated some higher-priced subscription plans.
Blockbuster’s lowest-priced online rental plan is now unlimited rentals at $9.99 per month for one movie out at a time.
Blockbuster also has a $14.99 plan for two movies at a time and $17.99 for three movies, and all plans include coupons for free in-store rentals.
“Our most popular plan continues to be the $17.99 three-movies-out plan,” according to the Blockbuster spokeswoman.
Netflix continues to offer a $5.99 plan for one DVD at a time at a limit of two movies per month as well as several other tiers, including unlimited monthly rentals at $9.99 for one movie at a time, $14.99 for two and $17.99 for three, the latter of which Netflix also describes as its most popular plan.
