There was a time when home entertainment required a trip to the local video store. That time was called the 20th century. Nowadays, our home entertainment fix isn’t anywhere in sight of a Blockbuster Video store. We’re just a few clicks away from watching what we want, when we want.
Problem is no one’s bothered to tell the video stores about this development. Some local video stores hold on through the love and devotion of their loyal customer base, who rent forgotten video gems or hard-to-find films on a consistent basis. But most, and I’m singling Blockbuster out here since this bit of information is all about them, just don’t realize how fossilized they’ve become.
Blockbuster, O Blockbuster, that aging leviathan of video rental business, refuses to give up. Its stores may close up like oysters at red tide, but the Block just keeps on busting. Take this for instance.
Competitors offer up DVD rentals for a buck (Redbox), or free streaming video for customers (Netflix), but Blockbuster wants to get radical by starting up their own kiosks with DRM-protected videos you download to an SD card to play on… what? Well, that’s where it gets kinda vague. The pilot for this program is doling out digital media players for participants, but beyond that:
…future iterations will allow consumers to move digital content via the SD memory card to a number of portable electronic devices, such as laptops and mobile phones.
Wow, what a difference, Blockbuster. That’s the way to show Redbox, Netflix and iTunes.
Blockbuster Express Digital rolls out to test markets with an initial offering over 1,000 new releases and classic movies, increasing the catalog to a whopping 1,500 by early 2010. In your face, 21st century.
(ncr.com via consumerist)
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