Blockbuster...DEAD?

[KnoxHarrington]

Blockbuster Inc, better known as the chain of shitty video stores that charges too much for censored copies of movies, is more than $1 billion in debt, and facing liquidation.

The once-dominant U.S. video store operator now teetering on the brink of bankruptcy is saddled with more than $1 billion of debt. It said on Friday it signed a forbearance agreement on August 12 with creditors representing about 70 percent of its senior secured notes, extending the deadline on payment to September 30.

Blockbuster has struggled to compete in an evolving digital marketplace and is bleeding market share to nimbler rivals such as Netflix Inc and Coinstar Inc's Redbox kiosks.

Analysts say a prepackaged bankruptcy may be the company's best option.

"There's enough value there as an ongoing business that they won't go into liquidation," research analyst Edward Woo of Wedbush Securities said. "It's not the preferred option, but everything is on the table."

The company put investors on alert that it might file for Chapter 7 and liquidate its assets, despite persistent attempts to reorganize, according to a quarterly filing with the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission.

Seriously, who goes to that shitty place anymore? You can get your videos on Netflix, and, increasingly, a lot of those are going to video on demand. And if you do need a video right away, you can go to a Redbox at the gas station and get the new releases there. Blockbuster always charged too damn much for movies, and ass raped you on late fees.

See you in hell, Blockbuster.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100813/media_nm/us_blockbuster;_ylt=Aoj1_QNnKiWJA6sUbWBELg9xFb8C;_ ylu=X3oDMTJraDIzZDc3BGFzc2V0A25tLzIwMTAwODEzL3VzX2 Jsb2NrYnVzdGVyBHBvcwMxNARzZWMDeW5fYXJ0aWNsZV9zdW1t YXJ5X2xpc3QEc2xrA2Jsb2NrYnVzdGVydw--

[weekapaugjz]

I still use blockbuster. Redbox never has anything I want to see and I don't have internet at my place to order netflix. Plus with the membership I have I get a non new release rental free with a paid rental so I usually leave with 4 movies for 8 bucks.

[Fallon]

Haven't been to a Blockbuster in about ten years. Just noticed one near by is gone and replaced by a liquor store.

[dino_electropolis]

Blockbuster Inc, better known as the chain of shitty video stores that charges too much for censored copies of movies, is more than $1 billion in debt, and facing liquidation.



Seriously, who goes to that shitty place anymore? You can get your videos on Netflix, and, increasingly, a lot of those are going to video on demand. And if you do need a video right away, you can go to a Redbox at the gas station and get the new releases there. Blockbuster always charged too damn much for movies, and ass raped you on late fees.

See you in hell, Blockbuster.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100813/media_nm/us_blockbuster;_ylt=Aoj1_QNnKiWJA6sUbWBELg9xFb8C;_ ylu=X3oDMTJraDIzZDc3BGFzc2V0A25tLzIwMTAwODEzL3VzX2 Jsb2NrYnVzdGVyBHBvcwMxNARzZWMDeW5fYXJ0aWNsZV9zdW1t YXJ5X2xpc3QEc2xrA2Jsb2NrYnVzdGVydw--


This!

[instrument]

i still find it hillarious how blockbuster got left behind by netflix...possibly funnier than sony and the mp3 players.

[WRESTLINGFAN]

Make it a red box night sounds much hotter

[IamFogHat]

I used to have five within fifteen minutes of my house and in the last three years they've all disappeared. Fuck those assholes, serves them right.

[Contra]

Blockbuster has the same thing as Netflix, they send the dvds to your house, that's what I have. Plus you get up to five free in store rentals of any movie (including Blu-ray) when you return mailed ones to the store. In the end they may just get rid of the physical stores, but I don't think they will go away all together.

[mdr55]

Mom and Pop video stores must be jumping in their graves with the fall of the once mighty Blockbuster.

I remember when I lived in Mississippi the slow death of the mom and pop video store I used to go to once the Blockbuster opened up in our town.

RIP Blockbuster.

[TripleSkeet]

Exactly. The internet, Netflix, and On Demand has done to Blockbuster what they did to the old Mom and Pop joints. Fuck em.

I cant think of one anywhere around here anymore. At least 5 where I live closed down in the last year alone.

[scottinnj]

i still find it hillarious how blockbuster got left behind by netflix...possibly funnier than sony and the mp3 players.

OMG, I am so glad you said that. I was a kid when the Walkman came out, and it was a revolution, on the scale of the iPod. It really was. And to see Sony get blown out of the portable music player market so easily was down right shocking to me.

When Apple introduced the iPod, Sony came out with an MP3 Walkman and it SUCKED, and they did nothing to make it better except for maybe more memory and bright colors on the case. But that didn't even come close to the ease of Apple's iTunes, which really is the reason the iPod is such a success. No other music software was as easy to figure out and use as iTunes, and Apple just cleaned house with it.

Amazing.

[PapaBear]

All we have here now is the "red box" style Blockbuster machines. I've never used it, but it does have one advantage over red box. With red box, if you want a friend to return your movie for you, they have to have your credit card. Not so with Blockbuster.

[keithy_19]

I miss Blockbuster. I have fond memories of being young and going to Blockbuster after school and renting a game.

I also miss Drug Fair.

[PapaBear]

I miss Blockbuster. I have fond memories of being young and going to Blockbuster after school and renting a game.

I also miss Drug Fair.
Damn. I don't think I've seen a Drug Fair since before you were born.

[StanUpshaw]

I don't know what sort of Kevin Smith wetdream you guys grew up in, but any Mom & Pop video store we had around here was a stinking, overpriced shitheap.

[Suspect Chin]

I don't know what sort of Kevin Smith wetdream you guys grew up in, but any Mom & Pop video store we had around here was a stinking, overpriced shitheap.

Did it have the kid toucher's section in the back room?

[StanUpshaw]

Did it have the kid toucher's section in the back room?

No, one of them had a kid toucher binder behind the counter, and the rest were family friendly.

We only got a kid toucher section when the ironically named Family Video chain moved into town.

[PapaBear]

I don't know what sort of Kevin Smith wetdream you guys grew up in, but any Mom & Pop video store we had around here was a stinking, overpriced shitheap.
Around here, the small places were the only ones where you could get porn. If I'm not mistaken, there is only one actual "store" where you can rent movies here, now. And it's STRICTLY porn. I stay away, though. I've had to make a few deliveries there, and the doorknob is always slimy. :flush:

[Suspect Chin]

And it's STRICTLY porn. I stay away, though.

At least until your parole is up, right?

[PapaBear]

At least until your parole is up, right?
That was PROBATION! And it ended in late 2001. I'm a relatively good boy, now.

[Suspect Chin]

That was PROBATION! And it ended in late 2001. I'm a relatively good boy, now.

Whew. Just tell me you don't have to put a huge pumpkin sticker on your door on Halloween?

[underdog]

OMG, I am so glad you said that. I was a kid when the Walkman came out, and it was a revolution, on the scale of the iPod. It really was. And to see Sony get blown out of the portable music player market so easily was down right shocking to me.

When Apple introduced the iPod, Sony came out with an MP3 Walkman and it SUCKED, and they did nothing to make it better except for maybe more memory and bright colors on the case. But that didn't even come close to the ease of Apple's iTunes, which really is the reason the iPod is such a success. No other music software was as easy to figure out and use as iTunes, and Apple just cleaned house with it.

Amazing.

Sony could have kept going with their minidisk, but they did their bullshit thing they do so often with making everything a sony format that everyone skipped it. Minidisk could have been the mp3 player, but sony fucked it all up.

[PapaBear]

Sony could have kept going with their minidisk, but they did their bullshit thing they do so often with making everything a sony format that everyone skipped it. Minidisk could have been the mp3 player, but sony fucked it all up.
I beta they regret that decision! To the MAX!

[StanUpshaw]

Sony could have kept going with their minidisk, but they did their bullshit thing they do so often with making everything a sony format that everyone skipped it. Minidisk could have been the mp3 player, but sony fucked it all up.

I came SO fucking close to jumping on the Minidisc. I even got Vitalogy on MD for my birthday because I had been saving up to buy a player.

And to bring it back to the topic at hand, I gave a long look at the Divx player, which had the rental industry shitting their pants.

[underdog]

I came SO fucking close to jumping on the Minidisc. I even got Vitalogy on MD for my birthday because I had been saving up to buy a player.

I used minidisk a lot when I used to dj because it was so great at recording and being able to skip ahead. It was a great format, it's just that Sony sucks sometimes.

[Rawkus]

they just started a 8.99 a month video game rental by mail thing like game fly which was 16.99 or something. Sounds like a good deal.

[STC-Dub]

Yeah, but you know Gamefly will still be around next year.

[SatCam]

The blockbuster name is still worth a ton of money, so im sure the name will be licensed out, even if the company is liquidated. The same thing happened to Polaroid after they went bankrupt back in 2001. "Blockbuster by RedBox"

All we have here now is the "red box" style Blockbuster machines. I've never used it, but it does have one advantage over red box. With red box, if you want a friend to return your movie for you, they have to have your credit card. Not so with Blockbuster.

I rented a redbox movie a few nites ago and all i had to do was stick it back in the slot.........

Also supposedly RedBox is adding video games rentals by winter

[SatCam]

The blockbuster by my work still does a shit ton of business. The area is high income and people are willing to spend a little more money to walk around in a nice store and pick out a movie. There is a redbox accross the parking lot

[Rawkus]

redbox adding games would be awesome. I might check out this blockbuster video game rental thing as well though, its almost half the price of gamefly so why not?

[PapaBear]

I rented a redbox movie a few nites ago and all i had to do was stick it back in the slot.........
They must have changed it to make things easier. I haven't used Redbox in a long time (since they stopped giving out all of those free rental codes).

BTW... I saw the Blockbuster guy maintaining one of the machines at a convenience store. He told the the girl at the counter that he pulls out Redbox movies every time he comes. I wonder how much money people are losing by being that stupid.