Comments on: No Matter Who Owns Blockbuster, It’s a Joke

By: Candidambf

Candidambf — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:50:00 +0000

When I tried to get games in the mail, they were NEVER available… so a movie would come instead. I love having the movie by mail feature, that’s why I thought BB would be the best choice, but IT IS NOT!

By: Guest

Guest — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:48:00 +0000

I have Dish for over 10 years. I decided to sign up for the Blockbuster Movie Pass….and it is a joke. They don’t have a “search” button to find the movie you want by title (no under Blockbuster Movie Pass – you can search other movies by title that are showing at HBO as an example). You have to use the filters. You can stream a lot of TV shows to your PC but not to your TV (only a few TV shows). So I’m going to wait for 30 days to cancel my Blockbuster Movie Pass and get Netflix, and besides watching the movies on demand, I get my favorite TV shows on my TV (not on my PC).

By: seo service provider

seo service provider — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 08:50:00 +0000

you are missing something.

By: Jauhar Khalid

Jauhar Khalid — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 16:18:00 +0000

That is a fair point. Perhaps it is an introductory price to gauge consumer interest? Or determine the viability of the disc model? Maybe it’s one disc at a time? Who knows. Criticizing the service itself is one thing, but claiming the company “is a joke” is just childish.

I would gladly pay around $20 (or even more) for an all you can eat service like this. Customer service has never been Dish’s virtue though, so we will have to wait and see how it turns out.

By: tokyotom

tokyotom — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 14:39:00 +0000

agree, i have even a better idea for netflix, offering everything free, customers would love it
netflix had no choice, content providers screwed themselves a couple of years ago with the low cost content, and now are not prepared to offer same price, netflix has no choice

By: James Hayden

James Hayden — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 03:19:00 +0000

Nevermind, I bet he was one of the guys who lost over a hundred dollars a share on netflix shares and trying to promote netflix…lol

By: James Hayden

James Hayden — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 03:19:00 +0000

Nevermind, I bet he was one of the guys who lost over a hundred dollars a share on netflix shares and trying to promote netflix…lol

By: James Hayden

James Hayden — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 03:19:00 +0000

Nevermind, I bet he was one of the guys who lost over a hundred dollars a share on netflix shares and trying to promote netflix…lol

By: James Hayden

James Hayden — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 03:19:00 +0000

Nevermind, I bet he was one of the guys who lost over a hundred dollars a share on netflix shares and trying to promote netflix…lol

By: James Hayden

James Hayden — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 03:17:00 +0000

Did the person who wrote this a netflix promoter????????

By: James Hayden

James Hayden — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 03:17:00 +0000

Did the person who wrote this a netflix promoter????????

By: Elbert Lee

Elbert Lee — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 14:18:00 +0000

I agree. Dish is trying to leverage a failed business to build its own core business. It is like ATT calling its LTE network “AOL Express”. It is clear that Dish acquired Blockbuster as an accessory to its Satellite services and had no intention of competing in the content delivery market, even when there is blood in the water. This is not called “playing to win”, but playing for scraps.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 07:24:00 +0000

Ha ha haDon writes: “Am I missing something here?”Yes, a lot.Some knowledge and research of the industry you are writing about.Some knowledge of the company you are writing about.Some knowledge of the company’s strategy.Some knowledge of the competitors’ strategies.Some very basic analytical skills.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 06:05:00 +0000

yes.
yes you are missing something.
For starters, the netflix business only happened recently.
These companies don’t come up with a plan on friday afternoon and implement it a week later.
Also – how would Dish send out streaming movies to non Dish customers out of the box?
People who have dish already have the needed equipment so it isn’t a big deal to get the service to them.
They have already said there will be something for non Dish customers coming later.
That is going to have to have some type of box or some type of deal with MS or Sony, etc…

So – it might work or might not but I don’t think it is as initially short-sighted as you imply for the reasons you give.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 05:56:00 +0000

Author, please ask the powers that be at SlashGear to move op-ed pieces to an op-ed section and not intermingle with news articles. What Dish did is perfectly logical for Dish. What you want and what upsets you are other issues.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 03:24:00 +0000

Also Blockbuster does have Blu-Ray included which Netfix doesnot. Games are also included which is not with Netflix.

By: Jennifer Stammer

Jennifer Stammer — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 03:01:00 +0000

Too bad Netflix has become too greedy. I stopped using them and started using TVDevo for streaming TV and Movies. Also use Redbox for $1 per movie.

By: Alvietaylor

Alvietaylor — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 02:35:00 +0000

Dish alone has 75% customers that Netflix has, I am guessing some of them are the same people…so let me see how this would work. Dish/Blockbuster will offer Starz, Disney, and other studios that netflix cannot, they get a lot of movies before netflix, they have the by mail service, the in store movie pass, and VOD streaming. Combine that with those of us that are not Dish customers but prefer Blockbuster Online due to games and bluray, this will add up fast. Now that i know this deal, i will be cutting my cable, my netflix account, and go with the new service.

By: Aps

Aps — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 01:07:00 +0000

Reisinger- stick to video games. You know nothing about business, so don’t pollute the web with your thoughts and feelings. In the first four sentences you said I four times, which is a little ridiculous. You lost all credibility with this statement “I thought that Dish could find a way to revive
Blockbuster’s ailing business model, and return it to a place where it
would no longer be viewed as a joke.” There is no reason for Dish to revive a failed business model. Do you expect them to reopen the stores they have closed over the past few years? That was their business model, physical stores. You then continued to criticize their new strategy, which obviously is the way of the future.

By: Hoser Man

Hoser Man — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 23:16:00 +0000

Two business problems exist here: One, Blockbuster is busted and Two, Dish Network doesn’t make any money. For Dipdish to make money they first must grow their movie network which they can’t do because they have a crappy satellite network. Their excuse for not carrying certain channels on their system is “no one watches them anyhow.” Not to mention that they don’t offer the NFL network games and other premium services. I left Netfliop due to their loosing Starz in the future which won’t allow them to be able to offer newer releases. There is only so many old movies that one can watch and the quality of the hollywood content now days leaves a lot to be desired.

The push to be able to stream movies into your TV, computer, tablet and phone does not look to be a fantastic business model to me, I mean after all, there really isn’t that much time in the day to watch movies, I really have to work for a living.

By: Walter Bakes

Walter Bakes — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 22:24:00 +0000

I think everyone is missing something — if Netflix couldn’t make disc rental by mail and streaming work for any less than $16 a month, how will Blockbuster accomplish the same feat for $10? Magic?

By: Walter Bakes

Walter Bakes — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 22:24:00 +0000

By: Walter Bakes

Walter Bakes — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 22:24:00 +0000

By: Estela

Estela — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 21:52:00 +0000

Netflix/Qwikster 2 DVDs at a time is only $12. I used to have both the turnaround from Netflix was 2 days less so I used to get 8 from Netflix vs 5 or 6 for BB a month. The only advantage can be if you have a BB brick and mortar close to your house, this is why I ditched BB and got instead Netflix 2 at a time. Now I’m going to go Qwikster 1 at a time plus Netflix streaming. I also tried Hulu Plus don’t like the commercials. And Amazon prime time don’t like the selection.

By: Estela

Estela — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 21:52:00 +0000

By: Deniz Yar

Deniz Yar — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 19:56:00 +0000

I just signed up for $15/mo with 2 DVDs at a time and I’m not a Dish subscriber, am I missing something.

The only thing I don’t like so far is that none of my devices appear to support. Blockbuster streaming, and I would think I have the more popular choices (xbox360 and boxee box)…not even my wd tv live (not plus) is supported, but that doesn’t over surprise me as netflix didn’t either the non-plus device)

By: Deniz Yar

Deniz Yar — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 19:56:00 +0000

I just signed up for $15/mo with 2 DVDs at a time and I’m not a Dish subscriber, am I missing something.

By: Rformisa

Rformisa — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 19:25:00 +0000

The thing that you are missing is the there is not possible way to give customers streaming plus DVD by mail, for 10 dollars without loosing money. Only 6 Dvds a month, mail both ways 50 cents each, by 6 equal 3 so you only have 7 Dollars to pay for the DVDs, content for Streaming,employees, overhead, etc, etc, It’s not going to happened. Sorry

By: Rformisa

Rformisa — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 19:25:00 +0000

By: Jauhar Khalid

Jauhar Khalid — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 18:32:00 +0000

Sounds overly critical … did you miss the part where they said it would eventually roll out to non-Dish consumers as well? Yes, the timing is red-hot right now, but they probably wanted to test it out with their existing customer base before mass release. I don’t think there is anything wrong with test driving it for a few months to get feedback so they can try and improve the offering before going truly public.

I think it’s an excellent deal: unlimited discs my mail and in-store exchanges (including games and blurays) AND streaming for $10. My only question is about their streaming catalog, and iOS and Android apps, which would be vital for the success of this service.