Blockbuster or Blockbuster Video is an American multimedia brand which was founded by David Cook in 1985 as a Small business home video rental shop, but later became a public store chain featuring video game rentals, DVD-by-mail, streaming media, video on demand, and cinema theater. The company expanded internationally throughout the 1990s. At its peak in 2004, Blockbuster employed 84,300 people worldwide and operated 9,094 stores.
Poor leadership and the impact of the Great Recession were major factors leading to Blockbuster's decline, as was the growing competition from Netflix's mail-order service, video on demand (including the Netflix streaming service), and Redbox automated kiosks. Significant loss of revenue occurred during the late 2000s, and the company filed for bankruptcy protection in 2010. The next year, its remaining 1,700 stores were bought by satellite television provider Dish Network; by 2014, the last 300 company-owned stores were closed.
Although corporate support for the brand ended, Dish retained a small number of franchise agreements, enabling some privately owned franchises to remain open. Following a series of further closures in 2019, only one franchised store remains open, located in Bend, Oregon. As of 2025, the company remains in existence under the name BB Liquidating, Inc., which gained notoriety in the GameStop short squeeze in 2021.
The first Blockbuster store opened on October 19, 1985, in Dallas, Texas, with an inventory of 8,000 VHS and 2,000 Beta tapes. The chain's name is derived from the term blockbuster, a Hollywood term for a successful film. Cook's experience with managing huge databases proved helpful in driving innovation within the industry. Following early success from the company's first stores, Cook built a $6-million warehouse in Garland, Texas, to help sustain and support future growth that allowed new stores to open quickly. Blockbuster would often custom-tailor a store's inventory to its neighborhood, based on local demographics.
In 1987, Waste Management co-founder Wayne Huizenga, who originally had reservations about entering the video rental industry, agreed to acquire several Blockbuster stores. At that time, there were 19 stores, attracting Huizenga's associate John Melk's attention due to its efficiency, family-friendly no-pornography image and business model. Huizenga and Melk utilized techniques from their waste business and Ray Kroc's model of expansion to rapidly expand Blockbuster, and soon they were opening a new store every 24 hours. They took over many of the existing Blockbuster franchise stores, and Huizenga spent much of the late 1980s acquiring several of Blockbuster's rivals, including Major Video. In 1989, Nintendo attempted to halt Blockbuster's ability to rent video games, filing multiple lawsuits and lobbying the U.S. Congress to ban the practice. Nintendo ultimately lost the battle, which paved the way for future video game rental.
Blockbuster sponsored the Pop-Tarts Bowl in American football, which began in 1990 and was played at Joe Robbie Stadium outside Miami. The first three editions were played under that name before Blockbuster withdrew its sponsorship.
In 1990, Blockbuster bought mid-Atlantic rival Erol's which had more than 250 stores. In 1992, Blockbuster acquired the Sound Warehouse and Music Plus music retail chains and created Blockbuster Music. In October 1993, Blockbuster took a controlling interest in Spelling Entertainment Group, a media company run by television producer Aaron Spelling. Spelling Entertainment Completes Sale of Shares to Blockbuster thefreelibrary.com, Retrieved on May 27, 2013 Blockbuster purchased Super Club Retail Entertainment Corp. on November 22, 1993, from Philips for 5.2 million shares of Blockbuster stock. This brought approximately 270 Record Bar, Tracks, Turtles and Rhythm and Views music stores and approximately 160 video retail superstores into the corporation. It also owned 35% of Republic Pictures; that company merged with Spelling in April 1994."Orlando Sentinel" Blockbuster's Spelling Finishes Buying Republic OrlandoSentinel.com, Retrieved on May 27, 2013
Blockbuster became a multibillion-dollar company, but Huizenga was worried about how new technology could threaten their business, such as video on demand and the growth of cable television. In 1991, just three days after Time Warner had announced it would upgrade its cable system, Blockbuster's shares dropped more than 10 percent. In 1993, he made an attempt to expand into other areas by investing in Viacom. Huizenga also considered buying a cable company, but this was unknown territory for Blockbuster and he decided not to take the risk. He also had the idea of a 2,500-acre Blockbuster sports and amusement park in Florida, something Blockbuster was still considering as late as August 1994. Unable to come up with a proper solution about how to face the growing threats to the traditional videostore, he made the decision to sell Blockbuster to Viacom and pull out. Viacom acquired Blockbuster in 1994 for $8.4 billion to help finance its bid for Paramount in the bidding war with QVC Network Inc. Blockbuster's stock trade had been dropping steadily the months before the merger, with a small rise after the deal was announced, and by the latter part of the decade, its worth was estimated to have fallen to just $4.6 billion.
The Blockbuster Block Party concept was test-marketed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1994. It was an "entertainment complex" aimed at adults, containing eight themed areas housing a restaurant, games, laser tag arena, and motion simulator rides, and was housed in a windowless building the size of a city block.
In 1989 Blockbuster expanded in the United Kingdom, purchasing the country's Ritz Video chain. The stores were rebranded to Blockbuster.
The original Blockbuster company, Blockbuster Video Inc., was merged into the parent company Blockbuster Entertainment Inc. which had earlier replaced the Blockbuster Entertainment Company. In 1996, Blockbuster Entertainment Inc. merged into a new Blockbuster Entertainment Corporation and the retail stores, then called Blockbuster Video, were renamed Blockbuster. The logo changed slightly, but retained the ITC Machine font. In November 1996 Blockbuster confirmed that it was moving its headquarters from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to the Renaissance Tower in downtown Dallas." Blockbuster sets meeting on move Video rental chain preparing possible relocation to Dallas". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. November 1, 1996. 1 Business. Retrieved December 18, 2009. Most of the workers at the Florida headquarters did not want to relocate, so Blockbuster planned to hire around 500 to 600 new employees for its Dallas headquarters. The company had offered various relocation packages to all of its Fort Lauderdale staff.Kirkpatrick, John. " Blockbuster to hire hundreds in Dallas office. Two-thirds of Florida workers not moving with headquarters". The Dallas Morning News. March 17, 1997. Retrieved December 18, 2009. The second Blockbuster Entertainment Corporation was later merged into Blockbuster, Inc.
In 1998, Blockbuster created DEJ Productions, which acquired 225 films primarily to provide exclusive content to its Blockbuster stores prior to being sold off to First Look Studios in 2005.Hettrick, Scott. DEJ Deal to First Look. Variety. November 5, 2005. During that same year, Blockbuster bought the Irish video rental store Xtra-vision, with over 200 stores in Ireland and the United Kingdom. In 2009, Blockbuster sold off its Irish operations to Birchall Investments, with the few Xtra-vision stores in the United Kingdom being rebranded as Blockbuster.
In late 1998, Blockbuster launched a loyalty program called Blockbuster Rewards that allowed customers to earn free rentals, including one older title each month from the category of Blockbuster Favorites. After a 1998 test launch, the chain went nationwide with the program in 1999.
In August the same year, Viacom sold the Blockbuster Music chain to Wherehouse Entertainment, which was subsequently purchased by Kaspien in 2003.
In mid-2000, the company partnered with Enron in an attempt to create a video-on-demand service. The agreement was supposed to last for 20 years; however, Enron terminated the deal in March 2001 over fears that Blockbuster would not be able to provide sufficient films for the service (Enron scandal). Also in 2000, Blockbuster turned down a chance to purchase the fledgling Netflix for $50 million (~$ in ).
In 2002, Blockbuster acquired Movie Trading Company, a Dallas chain that buys, sells, and trades movies and games, to study potential business models for DVD and game trading. Also that year, it acquired Gamestation, a 64-store UK computer and console games retailer chain, and purchased DVD Rental Central for $1 million, an Arizona father-and-son online DVD-rental company with about ten thousand subscribers. DVD Rental Central would eventually become Blockbuster Online.
On or around October 14, 2004, Blockbuster was spun-off from Viacom. Online DVD subscriptions were introduced on Blockbuster.com, also known as Blockbuster Online. Blockbuster also rolled out its "Game Rush" store-in-store concept to approximately 450 domestic company-operated stores. Blockbuster began game and DVD trading in selected U.S. stores.
At its peak in 2004, Blockbuster had more than 9,000 stores worldwide. In December 2004, Blockbuster announced its intention to pursue a hostile takeover of Hollywood Video, its major U.S. competitor. After several extensions of the tender offer, Blockbuster withdrew due to FTC opposition. To counter the Blockbuster offer, Hollywood Video agreed to a buyout in January 2005 by a smaller competitor, the Dothan, Alabama-based Movie Gallery. Since then, Movie Gallery has filed for bankruptcy twice and its entire chain of stores has been liquidated.
In May 2005, financier Carl Icahn waged a successful proxy fight to add himself and two other members to the board. Icahn accused Blockbuster of overpaying chairman and CEO John F. Antioco, who had served in that capacity since 1997, receiving $51.6 million (~$ in ) in compensation for 2004. Icahn was also at odds with Antioco on how to revive profit at Blockbuster. Antioco scrapped late fees in January, started an internet service, and decided to keep the company independent, while Icahn wanted to sell out to a private equity firm. Also in 2005, Blockbuster began a campaign promoting its "No more late fees" policy. The campaign proved controversial, with Associated Press reporting that the new policy actually charged users the full price of the movie or game after eight days which they could cancel by returning the product in question and paying a fee. More than 40 states filed suit against the company for false advertising. Blockbuster later settled the suit by agreeing to refunds, as well as promising to better explain the policy.
Vintage Stock acquired the Movie Trading Company name from Blockbuster in 2006, and continues to use the name for Dallas-area stores.
On June 19, 2007, after a pilot program launched in late 2006, Blockbuster announced that it had chosen Blu-ray over HD DVD format to rent in a majority of its stores. In the pilot program, Blockbuster offered selected titles for rental and sale in 250 stores. Blockbuster stocked Blu-ray titles in almost 5,000 stores across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Australia.
On July 2, 2007, the company named James W. Keyes, former president and CEO of 7-Eleven, as the new chairman and CEO. He introduced a new business strategy that included enhancements to existing stores. The following month in August, Blockbuster acquired Movielink for $6.6 million (~$ in ), forecasting a shift to streaming video. Movielink was an online video service that allowed customers to download movie rentals from a library of over 6,000 films, created in 2002 by five major studios including Warner Bros, MGM Studios, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, and Universal Studios. The move gave Blockbuster the opportunity to move away from the unprofitable Total Access (DVD-by-mail) service in favor of online streaming. Despite growing competition from Netflix and Redbox, the company downplayed the threat, choosing instead to focus on Apple and Walmart as their primary competition.
On September 14, 2007, Blockbuster GB Ltd bought a number of retail stores from ChoicesUK plc. ChoicesUK is an AIM-listed multi-channel distributor and retailer of DVDs, computer games, and CDs. The sale secured employment for approximately 450 employees across 59 stores in the United Kingdom. As part of the transaction, Blockbuster GB rebranded the stores as Blockbuster.
On February 17, 2008, Blockbuster proposed a buyout of struggling Circuit City. However, following a due diligence review of Circuit City's financial books, Blockbuster withdrew its offer in July 2008. Analysts were not favorable to the proposed deal, viewing it as a desperate effort to save two struggling retailers rather than a bold turnaround initiative. Subsequently, Circuit City filed for bankruptcy on November 10, 2008, and, after liquidating all of its stores, ceased operations on March 8, 2009.
At the beginning of 2010, Blockbuster had over 6,500 stores, of which 4,000 were in the United States— a number that fell to 3,425 in late October the same year. In the United States it planned to close between 810 and 960 retail stores, and instead launch as many as 10,000 "Blockbuster Express" video rental kiosks by the middle of 2010.Talley, Karen (October 1, 2009). "Blockbuster Plans Expansion To Counter Raft Of Competition". The Wall Street Journal. It has been claimed that more than 43 million U.S. households had Blockbuster memberships.
On February 10, 2010, Blockbuster announced that it would cease all its operations in Portugal, closing down 17 outlets and leaving over 100 workers unemployed. Blockbuster representatives in Portugal blamed Online piracy and the lack of government response to it as the key factors to the company's failure in the country.
In March 2010, Blockbuster began "Additional Daily Rates", or "ADRs", for rentals not returned by their due date in the United States, having already used this procedure in other countries such as the UK for many years. An ADR was charged for each day a member kept the rental beyond the rental terms. On March 12, 2010, PwC, Blockbuster's independent registered public accounting firm, issued its audit opinion disclosing substantial doubt about Blockbuster's ability to continue as a going concern. This report was included in Blockbusters's 10-K SEC filing. On March 17, 2010, Blockbuster issued a bankruptcy warning after continued drops in revenue threatened its ability to service its nearly $1 billion (~$ in ) debt load. By April 1, 2010, Carl Icahn had resigned from Blockbuster's board of directors and sold nearly all his remaining Blockbuster stock. Blockbuster paired up with WarnerMedia to have Warner Bros. movies made available in Blockbuster stores on the DVD release date and not be subject to a four-week delay. Similar agreements were also made with Universal and 20th Century Fox.
The liquidation of Movie Gallery began in May 2010, eliminating Blockbuster's primary competitor. During the same month a dissident shareholder, Gregory S. Meyer, in an effort to be elected to Blockbuster's board of directors, engaged in a Proxy fight with Blockbuster's board, alleging that the board had been responsible for significant destruction of value to shareholders. Meyer was elected to the board at Blockbuster's shareholder meeting in Dallas on June 24, 2010.
On July 1, 2010, the company was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) after its shareholders failed to pass a reverse stock split plan aimed at heading off involuntary delisting because of the stock's trading at well below $1 per share. The stock was then traded on the OTCBB (over-the-counter bulletin board).
Blockbuster was unable to make a $42.4 million (~$ in ) interest payment to bondholders and was given until August 13, 2010, to pay off the debt. The company hired Jeff Stegenga to be its chief restructuring officer (CRO) in an effort to satisfy bondholder demands and recapitalize the company. After failing to pay on August 13, bondholders gave Blockbuster until September 30, 2010.
On August 26, 2010, news media reported that Blockbuster was planning to file a pre-packaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy in mid-September. In light of this news, the company's chief financial officer (CFO), Tom Casey, resigned on September 11. He was replaced by Dennis McGill, formerly CFO of Safety-Kleen Systems, Inc. On September 23, 2010, Blockbuster filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection due to challenging losses, $900 million (~$ in ) in debt, and strong competition from Netflix, Redbox, and video on-demand services.James Surowiecki, The Next Level, The New Yorker, October 18, 2010. Movie Gallery had filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation earlier in 2010 for similar reasons.
At the time of its Chapter 11 filing, Blockbuster said it would keep its 3,300 stores open; however, that December it announced it would close an additional 182 stores by the end of April 2011 in attempts to emerge from bankruptcy. It was reported in February 2011 that Blockbuster and its creditors had not come up with a Chapter 11 exit plan and that the company would be sold for $300 million (~$ in ) or more, along with taking over debts and leases. Blockbuster admitted that it might not be able to meet financial obligations required under its Chapter 11 filing, a circumstance which could mandate conversion of the bankruptcy filing to Chapter 7 (liquidation). On March 1, 2011, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a claim disclosing that Blockbuster did not have the funds to continue reorganizing and should liquidate.
On March 28, 2011, South Korean telecommunications company SK Telecom made a surprise bid to buy Blockbuster. Dish Network had also expressed interest in bidding, as did Carl Icahn, despite calling Blockbuster "the worst investment I ever made". Dish eventually won the auction on April 6, 2011, agreeing to buy Blockbuster for $320 million (~$ in ) and the assumption of $87 million (~$ in ) in liabilities and other obligations. On April 19, 2011, it was announced that Dish would keep only 500 Blockbuster stores open. The acquisition was completed on April 26, 2011. In April 2011, Dish Network told the U.S. Bankruptcy Court that it needed more time to negotiate with landlords in an effort to keep more than 600 Blockbuster stores open.Maria Halkias, Dallas News. " Dish Network is trying to keep more than 600 Blockbuster stores open". April 21, 2011. Retrieved April 22, 2011.
In April 2011, Blockbuster's landlords objected to its assumption of leases that it sought to assign to soon-to-be-owner Dish Network Corp., claiming that they did not have adequate assurance that the new owner would honor those leases. Blockbuster signed a deal with ITV Studios to launch ITV Programmes released on DVDs, Blu-rays, etc.Joseph Checkler, NASDAQ. " Blockbuster Landlords Want More Assurance, Money For Leases". April 21, 2011. Retrieved April 22, 2011. On May 6, 2011, Keyes resigned as Blockbuster's CEO.
On January 13, 2012, Dish CEO Joe Clayton announced that while Dish had planned to keep 90% of the stores in operation, meaning around 15,000 employees would remain employed, because of market factors "there are ones that aren't going to make it. We will close unprofitable stores. We will close additional stores." Clayton did not say when these additional closings would happen and only remarked that some stores were unprofitable. The Dish chief would not say which stores the company was planning to close, but that each potential closing was to be assessed on a "case by case basis".
On October 4, 2012, Dish Network announced that it was scrapping plans to make Blockbuster into a Netflix competitor. On January 16, 2013, Blockbuster UK entered into administration and Deloitte was appointed to run the business while trying to find a buyer while some of the stores remained open. Between November 6, 2013, and January 12, 2014, Dish Network closed all 300 remaining corporate-owned Blockbuster stores in the United States and the DVD-by-mail program was shut down. The Blockbuster official website identified 51 franchise locations remaining in operation in the United States in 2014. Dish maintained its video streaming services, Blockbuster on Demand and Blockbuster@Home, until they were replaced by a new subscription service in April 2015 called "DISH Movie Pack". In May 2015, Michael Kelly retired from Dish.
Blockbuster's decline was attributed to poor leadership according to others in the industry. Franchise owner Ken Tisher said in 2015, "Blockbuster, if it isn't already, is going to go into the Harvard Business Review for how not to run a business, or how to run a business into the ground." Keith Hoogland, owner of Family Video, attributed poor decision-making as a primary reason the company did not survive. Jonathan Salem Baskin, a former Blockbuster marketing communications executive, stated, "Digital would have changed Blockbuster's business, for sure, but it wasn't its killer. That credit belongs to Blockbuster itself." Commentators view Blockbuster as a main example of failing to change with the times.
In January 2020, the last remaining store outside of the United States, located in Dargaville, closed its doors. The Bend location became the last remaining Blockbuster in the world; it serves as a tourist destination, housing Blockbuster memorabilia and Russell Crowe film props which John Oliver had donated to an Alaska store. In August 2020, the location was listed as an Airbnb rental for a 1990s-themed sleepover on three separate nights in September; each were limited to guests from the area in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The entity that operated Blockbuster prior to the sale to Dish remains nominally active under the name BB Liquidating Inc., and trades as a penny stock. However, it no longer has any assets or ties to the Blockbuster brand or its remaining franchise location. In activity related to the GameStop short squeeze of January 2021, the BB Liquidating stock surged, despite there being "no value for the common shareholders in the bankruptcy liquidation process, even under the most optimistic of scenarios."
On September 21, 2022, the Blockbuster Twitter account revealed the Blockbuster World Video Game Championship 3. The event was held during the Portland Retro Gaming Expo 2022. On March 23, 2023, the Blockbuster web page was re-activated, with the message "We are working on rewinding your movie".
On June 6, 2025, it was reported that Dish Network's parent company EchoStar Corporation was preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) suspended EchoStar's ability to plan out strategic decisions for its Boost Mobile subsidiary. In addition, other factors contributing to this decision included missing over $500 million in interest payments and the termination of the Dish Network acquisition by DirecTV.
When a title was no longer a new release, each store would retain a few copies of it and typically sell off the rest as "previously viewed" for discounted prices. Older movies would be re-categorized as "Blockbuster Favorite" titles and placed in a different area of the store. Most Blockbuster locations also accepted trade-ins of used movies, TV shows, and games.
Since Blockbuster's founding in 1985, the chain refused to stock adult films in order to portray the brand as family-friendly. However, the company did carry R-rated and unrated films.
The names Blockbuster Express and Blockbuster Video Express had also been used for smaller Blockbuster retail stores in the United Kingdom.
In February 2007, Blockbuster sold its entire Australian store network to Video Ezy. At the time, Blockbuster Australia comprised 370 outlets nationwide—29 owned by the company and 341 owned by franchisees. Video Ezy had 518 Australian outlets, all of them being owned by franchisees, pushing the combined group's market share to 40% of the country's video rental sector. Video Ezy committed to the master franchise agreement with Blockbuster for 10 years operating the brand with the possibility of renewal for a further 10 years after that. As a consequence of the deal, the company changed its name from Video Ezy to Franchise Entertainment Group (FEG). In October 2010, FEG transferred control of the Video Ezy Australia and Blockbuster Australia online businesses to its newly acquired and reorganized company, Elan Media Partners, leaving FEG to manage the franchise relationships with individual Video Ezy and Blockbuster outlets.
Despite the two brands coming together, Video Ezy and Blockbuster franchises closed 270 stores across Australia in the four years to August 2011. Additional store closings would go on for several years, until all the stores in Australia had closed, although vending kiosks with the Blockbuster logo were still in operation until early 2021. Australia's last Blockbuster store, in Morley, Western Australia, was closed at the end of March 2019.
On May 25, 2011, it was announced that 146 stores, accounting for approximately 35% of the company's stores in Canada, would be shut down effective June 18, 2011. On August 31, 2011, Blockbuster Canada announced that no buyer could be found for its remaining stores that were acceptable to the court-appointed bankruptcy receiver, and that it would wind down operations and close all stores by December 31, 2011. The company had acted as a guarantor towards Blockbuster's remaining debt.
A location in Owen Sound, Ontario which was vacant after its closure, had it signs remained intact as of 2025. This location has cemented its status as the last Blockbuster standing in Canada and was featured in Chandler Levack's 2022 film I Like Movies
However, the Blockbuster On Demand service is still active in Nordic Countries, offering both unlimited streaming and 48-hour rental of films online. Several have the Blockbuster app pre-installed out-of-the-box, and it is available on a variety of streaming devices such as Google's Chromecast. The rights to the Blockbuster brand are now in hands of Nuuday.
Blockbuster pulled out of the market in 2004 after high operating costs and losses to copyright infringement.
In February 1992, Blockbuster purchased Citivision PLC, the biggest home-video company in Britain, for $81 million (~$ in ). At the time, Citivision operated about 775 stores in Britain branded as Ritz.
Blockbuster UK operated trade functions in all their stores, buying and selling pre-owned DVDs, console games, and gaming accessories. Stores offered either store credit or cash for trade-ins, and would price-match with competitors. At its height in 2002, Blockbuster UK operated out of over 800 stores.
In early 2013, the company had 528 locations in the United Kingdom. On January 16, 2013, Blockbuster placed its United Kingdom subsidiaries in administration, putting over 4,000 jobs at risk. Non-UK stores were unaffected by the administration, and continued to trade as normal. On February 1, 2013, a large number of Blockbuster stores in the UK were closed, and the UK business was purchased out of administration by restructuring firm Gordon Brothers Europe on March 23, 2013.
Blockbuster UK then traded as TS Operations, with only 264 branches retained. On October 29, 2013, Blockbuster UK announced it was to go into administration for a second time. On November 14, 2013, 72 store closures were announced, with another 62 made on December 5. A week later, with no success in finding a buyer, it was announced by Moorfields Corporate Recovery that all remaining stores in the country would cease operation on December 16, 2013, with stock to be cleared the day before this.
In September 2018, to coincide with the digital release of Deadpool 2, a pop-up retail store in the style of an original 1989 Blockbuster outlet was opened for two days in Shoreditch in East London. The store gave away 1,989 copies of the film in reference to Blockbuster's entry year into the UK market.
In 2019, Blockbuster lent its name to a party game published by Big Potato Games.
In May 2004, Blockbuster also introduced an online subscription service. The unlimited three-disc plan cost £14.99/month but did not allow in-store exchange, contrary to the U.S. service. Partial support for in-store exchange was added in April 2005 with the launch of an "OnlineXtra" service. This service cost £2 per month, required an online subscription to a disc plan, and added two extra discs sent by mail. The OnlineXtra discs could be exchanged in store, but the non-OnlineXtra discs could not. The program was discontinued in 2006 with no grandfathering, but an in-store-only variant of it resurfaced in early 2008. A "Click & Collect" service launched in September 2010 allowed the reservation of Blockbuster movies in store, but the store's regular rental fees applied until the company added in-store exchanges in May 2012. Support for game reservations was added in November 2011.
In 2008, Blockbuster UK's website underwent an overhaul, with an online store; a retail store stock checker; improved search functionality; and a critically acclaimed layout. In-store pickup and exclusive titled were added in 2009. Some of the titles which had an exclusivity period at Blockbuster include Gran Torino, Changeling, Taken, and Knowing. Additionally, online rental downloads of Universal Pictures in the United Kingdom remains exclusive to Blockbuster. This provides an advantage to the rental company compared to its competitors HMV, Play, and LoveFilm.
In January 2010, Blockbuster UK launched an online blog. Improved search algorithms, product pages, and social network links were added to the site in April 2010. Blockbuster UK aired a monthly BB Insider online video show from May 2010 to January 2011 and launched an iPhone App in September 2010. Throughout the year 2011, Blockbuster UK announced several price cuts along with a new Blockbuster loyalty card program.
These price drops were followed by a price drop of the Blockbuster UK online pay per rent service. Although some Blockbuster UK advertisements claim that the company no longer charges late fees, the fine print and/or voiceover clarifies that rentals will be charged an extra pound for every additional night. A "Top Ticket" feature was added in April 2011, allowing monthly subscription customers to rent an additional movie at no extra charge and to receive it before other movies they request. Support for online sales of used movie and game discs was added in July 2011. The Blockbuster UK website was enhanced in September 2011. During the following month, a new TV section was added to the website.
3D Blu-rays were added to Blockbuster UK in February 2012. In May 2012, Blockbuster UK partnered with IGN to launch a new Blockbuster VIP Gamer loyalty program.
On January 16, 2013, Blockbuster UK entered administration, appointing Deloitte as company administrators, casting doubt over the future of their 528 stores in the country. An announcement was then made by Deloitte that 160 UK stores would close.
On February 13, 2013, Deloitte announced a further 164 store closures, leaving 204 stores trading in the UK. The business was sold to restructuring firm the Gordon Brothers on March 23, 2013. On October 29, 2013, Gordon Brothers filed notice of intention to appoint an administrator. On November 28, 2013, Blockbuster UK officially entered administration for the second time, and by December 2013, all stores were closed, as no buyer for the chain was found.
On August 11, 2004, Blockbuster introduced a DVD-by-mail service in the US to compete with the established market leader, Netflix. Blockbuster going after NetFlix CNNMoney. August 11, 2004. Retrieved July 25, 2013.
Blockbuster's US online operation started with around 10 warehouses; further expansions every year brought that number to 41, plus more than 1400 stores in the Blockbuster Online network. Most Blockbuster independent franchises did not honor the Total Access program. The company had 1.5 million subscribers at the end of the third quarter of 2006. Blockbuster's move to follow the business pattern with its online rentals as was established by Netflix prompted Netflix to sue Blockbuster for patent infringement. Blockbuster counter sued with a counterclaim alleging deceptive practices with its patent which it alleged was designed to maintain an illegal monopoly. The suits were eventually settled, and while the terms were not disclosed it was later reported that Netflix recorded a settlement payment from Blockbuster of $4.1 million (~$ in ) in the second quarter of 2007.
Blockbuster offered several online movie rental plans. In some cities customers could add games to their movie rental queue as if they were included in their plan, but game rentals resulted in a separate additional fee which was not displayed or charged until the end of the billing cycle. Until July 26, 2007, Blockbuster offered and advertised unlimited free in-store exchanges of online rentals with all plans. Since then there were several changes back and forth with regard to this policy; in March 2010 customers were allowed a limited number of in-store exchanges.
At the end of 2006, Blockbuster Total Access had 2.2 million customers, exceeding their original goal of 2 million, according to its website. After an aggressive media campaign that accounted for much of Blockbuster's $46.4 million (~$ in ) net loss in the first quarter of 2007, the Total Access subscriber base surpassed 3 million customers in total, marking the company's highest subscriber growth quarter ever. By 2009, however, the company was declining to provide figures when asked by The Wall Street Journal.
On January 5, 2007, Southern Stores Inc., one of Blockbuster's largest franchise operators in the United States, filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging that, by introducing Blockbuster Online and Blockbuster Total Access, the rental chain has undercut the group's franchise agreement.
On August 6, 2010, Blockbuster By Mail subscribers gained access to Blockbuster's library of console games, in addition to movies and television shows.
On March 31, 2012, Blockbuster On Demand removed support from set-top box media players, including Vudu, WDTV, and Roku. Supported devices now only included computers, Blu-ray players, select television sets, and cellular phones.
On February 26, 2013, Roku, Inc. announced that Blockbuster On Demand was being launched on Roku's channel store. Supported devices now included computers, Blu-ray players, select television sets, cellular phones, and the Roku set-top box.
In November 2013, Dish Network said its DVD-by-mail service would shut down by mid-December.
The 2005 controversy came after a related lawsuit settled in 2002 in Texas. That lawsuit, alleging exorbitant late fees, led the company to pay $9.25 million in attorney fees and offer $450 million in late fee refund coupons (which were rent-one get-one-free coupons, and thus required the customer to make an initial expenditure). The company estimated that the coupons would ultimately cost about $45 million depending on the redemption rate; an attorney for the plaintiffs estimated the final cost at closer to $100 million at a redemption rate of about 20% (calculated based on a similar case in Michigan).
Such corrections were also sent to international stores such as those in Canada to prevent further lawsuits.
Blockbuster reintroduced late fees in the United States in 2010 under the name of "Additional Daily Rates". With this pricing scheme, rentals were once again limited to a certain number of days and accrued pay-per-day rates after the days allocated are exceeded.
Informational notes
Citations
1997–2006: John Antioco era, Netflix sale turndown, and financial peak
2007–2011: James Keyes era, financial decline, and bankruptcy
2011–2015: Michael Kelly era
2015–present: Post-Kelly era and continual decline
Business model
Quantity and selection of titles
Blockbuster was once an unstoppable giant whose franchises swept across the country putting mom and pop video stores out of business left and right by offering a larger selection of new releases, pricing them at a lower point due to the volume they worked in... Gone were the fragmented, independently owned shops that were often unorganized treasure troves of VHS discoveries. In their place were walls of new releases: hundreds of copies of a small handful of films. Everyone watching the same thing, everyone developing the same limited set of expectations... They put focus entirely on what was new rather than on discovering film history ...
Other ventures
Blockbuster Entertainment Awards
Blockbuster Express
GameRush
Discovery Zone
International operations
Australia
Brazil
Canada
Denmark
Germany
Hong Kong
Ireland
Israel
Japan
Mexico
New Zealand
Norway
Peru
United Kingdom
Online rentals
Brazil
Movielink acquisition
The Nordics
United Kingdom
United States
Advertising
Super Bowl
Misleading advertising
Presidents and CEOs
See also
External links
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