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Smart Move for Blockbuster

By :Thomas K. Arnold | Posted: 25 Mar 2009
tarnold@questex.com,

Smart move by Blockbuster, this teaming with TiVo to deliver movies online (see the Home Media Magazine story here). The chain's top man, Jim Keyes, has long said his ultimate goal is to turn Blockbuster from a rental giant into a one-stop source for anyone who wants to bring entertainment into the home, in whatever fashion: renting a DVD, buying a DVD, renting a Blu-ray Disc, buying a Blu-ray Disc, and even getting a movie digitally delivered. Now he's given this "fifth promise" a tremendous boost, by partnering with TiVo to allow it to deliver Blockbuster's 10,000-title digital movie library online to TiVo digital video recorders that are attached to TVs. "Ultimately, our vision is to work with TiVo so that their subscribers can access movies not only through our OnDemand service but also from our stores and through our by-mail services as well," Keyes said in a statement. As our senior editor, Erik Gruenwedel, correctly asserts in his story, "The shift by [Blockbuster] to integrate Blockbuster OnDemand (formerly Movielink) into TiVo DVRs would appear to be an attempt to usurp the digital rental market currently controlled by Netflix." But it's more than that--it's a fulfillment of Keyes' big picture vision for the chain, and one that, if successful, could extend the trouble rental chain's lease on life.

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Commented by Steve Cerruti
Posted on 2009-03-26 18:18:28

As a TiVo user who has downloaded movies from Amazon Unbox since almost day one I welcome additional content from Blockbuster. I am curious however how this will play out in the long term. There are three main ways that I choose movies to download. 1) I look for sales. This means going into the TiVo menu and selecting the Amazon deals. I am unlikely to look in more than one place therefore either TiVo is going to have to aggregate sales into a single category or Blockbuster is going to have to win my loyalty. Unbox gave me free rentals when they launched. I have also depended on Amazon emails for movie sale information, however Amazon's emails have become to hard to read. I see an opportunity for a third party to send me an email each week containing Amazon's and Blockbuster sale movies. Affiliate programs may in fact make this a worthwhile venture. 2) Someone tells me about a movie at work and I schedule it for download from the website. Another opportunity for a site that would aggregate listings