Blockbuster tests 99¢ DVD rentals
By Danny King -- Video Business,12/05/2008
DEC. 8 | In an effort to improve holiday store traffic, Blockbuster has cut the rental prices of some of its older DVD titles to as little as 99¢ a day, about the same price as movie rentals from kiosk operators such as Redbox.
The largest U.S. movie-rental chain is testing the price cuts for so-called "classic" titles in "some markets," Blockbuster spokesman Randy Hargrove said.
CEO James Keyes said Blockbuster is pricing "thousands" of older titles at 99¢, marking the first time the company has charged so little for a video rental, Reuters reported last week.
Hargrove decline to specify how many stores would have the cheaper titles or how long the promotion would last.
The test marks a reversal of sorts from the company's efforts to offset the effects of less foot traffic by charging more for its DVD rentals. Last month, Blockbuster cut its third-quarter loss by 48% from a year earlier partially by boosting both revenue per customer visit and net rental rates by at least 15%.
The price cut also might be part of an effort to stave off competition from operators of kiosks, which are expected to boost their share of the market place as chains such as Blockbuster and Movie Gallery shrink the number of stores they operate. At 99¢, Blockbuster's pricing on some older titles is about equal to what Redbox and smaller competitors TNR/Moviecube and DVDPlay are charging for more contemporary movies.
DVDPlay in October dropped the price of its standard-definition and Blu-ray Disc rentals to $1 a night from $1.49 a night, while Redbox last month started stocking Blu-ray discs, also with a $1 rental price, at some locations.
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| Submitted by: | WrkerB73 12/9/2008 11:20:14 AM PT |
| Location: | Rochester NY |
Blockbuster's in the Rochester NY area already have had $.99 rentals on new releases since October 2007. Yes, new releases.
| Submitted by: | Moviequeen 12/7/2008 2:49:12 PM PT |
| Location: | Ohio |
| Occupation: | Store Manager |
Hey, "Comment Guy"! How does your comment in ANY way relate to this article?
This article is about making movies more affortable to the average renter right now in tough economic times. While Blockbuster is currently developing and implementing strategies to stay relevent in a changing technological landscape, I think it is important that they remember what is important to their core customer TODAY - not 5 years from now. The technology you are referring to is not going to replace folks renting dvds and watching them on their dvd players TONIGHT!
While Redbox offers $1 movies, it is important to remember that this is a price for a single evening''s rental. Blockbuster offers a great selection of Blockbuster favorites for the same $1 only they get these additional benefits: longer rental times, more movie choices, the opportunity to earn free movie & game rentals with those $1 rents if they are Blockbuster "Rewards" members, the chance to purchase additional movie related product (posters, confection, framed art, plush, holiday, magazines), the chance to rent the latest games in addition to movies, the opportunity to buy hardware (game systems and bluray players) to enhance their entertainment experience, and finally, the chance to talk with staff and other customers about their favorite movies and recommendations. Try getting all that ANYWHERE else but Blockbuster!
| Submitted by: | Comment Guy (commentguy@yahoo.com) 12/6/2008 2:02:19 AM PT |
| Occupation: | Music |
Download set top boxes and download portable players ( ie Blockbuster, Sling box, XBOX 360 Apple TV, VUDU, Hulu, PS3 ) are a thing of the past, only to be replaced by the technology used by service providers such as MyTVPAL ( www.mytvpal.com ) and Netflix ( www.netflix.com ).
Service providers like MyTVPAL offer 1080p instant blu-ray streaming video on demand and live tv over PC Player, set top box, and I think they will have a portable device out soon.
Keep in mind also that P2P is on the way out because it uses to much bandwidth, both up and down, and is unstable. I?m refering to service providers such as VUDU ( a one trick pony ) and Joost, who latest foray into portable video on demand on the itouch / iphone is frezing, buffering, and providing a horrible user experience even on my 6mbps connection.
Streaming video is a great addition for live tv an video on demand, but at the end of the day only those technology companies like Matrixstream ( www.matrixstream.com ) will be able to support the best quality over the best effort public internet when doing a triple play ( set top box, PC Player, and portable device ) because currently where Netflix requires 8mbps for 720p streaming, MyTVPAL can support 720p streaming a 3mbps and 1080p blu-ray streaming at 6mbps.
Keep the above in mind when considering the average person today in the United States and Canada has between 1.5 - 3.0Mbps. So While MyTVPAL can service the majority of broadband users today in the United States and Canada in both 720p and 1080p today it will be years before Netflix can service a fraction of the broadband population in high definition instant video streaming.
At the end of the Day service providers such as Netflix and Blockbuster will have evolve to provide a service like MyTVPAL or suffer the consequences of not providing low bandwidth, instant playing, 1080p blu-ray high definition platform that we?ve come to expect from MyTVPAL ( www.mytvpal.com ) on PC Player, set top box, and soon I would imagine, portable player.
Comment Guy
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