Big Surprise: Blockbuster Online Raising Prices Again

As I knew they would...

Source

This is why I have stock in Netflix...

Oh yeah, I thought this bit was particularly hilarious!

Translation: Blockbuster is going to stop reporting subscriber losses every quarter!

I love the Blockbuster/Netflix saga, it's a shining example of how a large brick and mortar dinosaur never recognized the threat, and is now getting creamed by their upstart competition. Plus a shining example of how in a capitalist society no market share is safe, and no company is entitled to dominance.

I read somewhere recently that Blockbuster closed 500 stores last year, and even thought they still have thousands of locations, they own very few of them, so they don't even have an asset in real estate.

I haven't used a brick and mortar store in ages. Mainly because the selection usually sucks. It's always wall to wall flavor of the month, and you can forget about any genre material.

My sci-fi channel comes through Netflix. I've been catching up on Stargate SG:1 and Space:1999 via Netflix. Try finding those at a local store.

Actually, what I find the most delicious part is how Blockbuster thought it could simply copy Netflix and offer the same service at the same price while neglecting to take into account the albatross of costs that its brick and mortar stores have. There's very poor management at Blockbuster...

I just hope Netflix doesn't get cocky and raise their prices "just a little". Though I am getting my money's worth out of the deal.

They actually lowered my plan by a dollar a while back.

I still drive to a Blockbuster store and rent movies for $4 a pop.

I didn't know they carried Betamax.

To be honest, not surprised at all by that.


Have a blockbuster just round the corner from me (60-80 yards) and never go in there.

Used to go to ours all the time. Got tired of feeling I was gypped by their return / damage policies and when netflix came along I was gone.

I have a blockbuster within walking distance of my house and have never been in it. Blockbuster sux. Netflix RULZ!!

Blockbuster: Not Scottish
Netflix: :bigstall:

I don't use online stuff. Don't watch movies much in general anymore, though, so of course I don't count because I'm not their target audience Whatever.

I watch a fair amount of movies, but I'm not handing over my account numbers to some monthly service or fucking around with mailing things. If I want a movie, I drive the two minutes it takes to arrive at a physical store. It's a short detour from my work commute, so returning them is no problem.

^ We all pay for the conveniences we choose but Blockbuster really screwed up as they're offering poorer service and selection while raising their prices.

May work for you but won't for most people.

I haven't rented a movie in more than five years.

If I want to see a movie and I think there's a chance that I'll want to watch it more than once, I just buy it. As cheap as dvds are, it's well worth it to me.

Otherwise, I just watch it on cable or (rarely) see it on pay per view.

Bittorrent is your friend

I rent like 4 movies a year. I used to have Netflix, but that was before school, and honestly, even when I had it, the DVD's just sat there unwatched.

Bah. We don't rent videos any more, haven't in years. If we like a movie, we buy the DVD when it comes out.

Gotta wonder about this Blockbuster thing, tho. It takes a special kind of stupid to raise your prices in the face of declining business.

What was the thought process there? "Hmmm . . . our customers are leaving us for our competition and we're not making up the difference with new customers. I know . . . raise our rates!!! Charge more for a less-popular service!"

I wish Netflix would come to Canada.

I use Zip.ca -- the largest on-line DVD rental company in Canada -- but their selection pales in comparison with Netflix and title requests can take up to 6 months, if you're lucky.

Man. Good thing you don't have to wait that long to see a proper doctor...

Almost sounds like Democratic tax policy, don't it?

I am absolutly pissed about this. I've mentioned it a time or 2 before but I work for Blockbuster and use the total access even gone as far as called and complained and channelled our regulars at the store.

Thing is, there not getting anymore customers because we've been told to push Rewards and Movie Pass on the store level the last few months and I have no idea what there thinking.


O ya, and put money that a lot of people don't yet, because this is the email they sent to people

lol, who read that through the 1st paragraph?


I'm not sure what i'm gonna do now, they dont pay me enough to pay them back to $35/month.

I just checked and the monthly price on mine seems to be staying the same. 23.80 a month, unlimited in store exchanges, 2 dvds at a time. If that goes up I will change to netflix, but until then it's a better deal because of the in store exchanges.

Meh.

Mine's still $14.99/mo.

I get 3 at a time DVDs Unlimited through Netflix for $16.99 a month plus 6,000 movies I can watch online anytime. Sure there's a Blockbuster about a mile up the road, but it sucks, and Netflix continues to get my business. I'm quite happy with that.

J.

I hope they both stay in business. Netflix was getting sloppy at the end of last year. 10 day turn-around for DVDs.

Kidlets wanted videos so I bit my tongue and went to blockbuster.

The 17.99 deal was too good to be true, so I took it. Doesn't surprise me at all that they doubled it since summer.

Shouldn't surprise them that I went back to Netflix.

Netflix added the online movies feature this year. This helps to fill the gap when the kidlets need a video fix. The download is very smooth and picture quality high (at least on a 19" monitor). Online selection is just so so, but then so was the brick and mortar version of Blockbuster.

We'll see how netflix does this time around. They throttle mailing DVDs when you reach some threshold (at least they did a year ago). Blockbuster never seemed to do this.

Netflix = :bigstall:

Blockbuster = Aids and Fail

Let me ask you Netflixers a question, how is the turn around these days? I did sign up for net flix long long ago and it took me over a week to get my dvds, so I cancelled it. Blockbuster is never more than 2 days and with the in store exchanges you're virtually never left without a movie.

How is the TV selection on the online viewing? If it's any good I would consider switching. I use blockbuster mainly to go through season after season of TV shows I like and to get blu rays with my in store exchanges. So if I could pull the TV from the internet and get a good blu ray selection then maybe Netflix would be a better option. So please help me out with this decision.

Thanks

Shoot. I live in frakkin' Boise. If I have a movie in my hand and one in the queue, and I put the one in my hand in the mail on Monday morning, I get the one in my queue in Wednesday's mail. Not bad at all.

what specifically are you interested in? I noticed they have the complete first season Addams Family.

Turnaround may suffer from those of us leaving blockbuster to go back to netflix.