Blockbuster LLC , formerly Blockbuster Entertainment, Inc. , also known as Blockbuster Video or just Blockbuster , is an American-based home movie and video game service provider through video rental stores, DVD-by-mail , streaming, video on demand, and cinema. Blockbuster became internationally known throughout the 1990s. At its peak in 2004, Blockbuster employs 84,300 people worldwide, including about 58,500 in the United States and about 25,800 in other countries, and has 9,094 stores in total, with over 4,500 of them in the US.
Competition from Netflix's mail-order service, Redbox auto kiosk, and video on demand services are a major factor in Blockbuster's death. Blockbuster began to lose significant revenue during the 2000s, and in 2010, the company filed for bankruptcy protection. The following year, the remaining 1,700 stores were purchased by satellite television provider Dish Network. While the Blockbuster brand has largely retired, Dish still maintains a small number of Blockbuster franchise agreements, allowing multiple stores to remain open in some markets.
Video Blockbuster LLC
Histori
1985-1997: David Cook
Blockbuster's start can be traced back to another company, Cook Data Services, founded by David Cook in 1978. The company's primary goal is to provide software services to the oil and gas industry throughout Texas, but that does not work very well. Sandy Cook, David's wife, wants to get into the video business, and her husband will soon study the industry and future prospects. Using the profits he generated from David P. Cook & amp; Associates, a subsidiary of his company, decided to buy a video shop franchise in Dallas known as Video Works. When Video Works did not allow her to decorate the interior of her shop with a blue-and-yellow design, she left the franchise and opened the first Blockbuster Video in 1985. When realized the potential in video rentals, Cook left the oil industry. and renamed his company Blockbuster Entertainment.
The first Blockbuster store opened October 19, 1985, in Dallas, Texas, with an inventory of 8,000 VHS and 2,000 Beta tapes. Cook's experience with managing a large database proved to be useful in driving innovation in the industry. Following the initial success of the company's first store, Cook built a $ 6 million warehouse in Garland, Texas, to help maintain and support future growth that allows new stores to open quickly. Blockbusters will often adjust store inventory to their environment, based on local demographics.
In 1987, the company won a court case against Nintendo, which paved the way for video game rentals. Also that year, Waste Management co-founder Wayne Huizenga, who initially objected to entering the video rental industry, agreed to acquire several Blockbuster stores. At that time the number of stores was 19, and attracted the attention of Huizenga's associate, John Melk, due to its efficiency, family-friendly image and business model, and convinced Huizenga to see it. Huizenga and Melk use the techniques from their waste business and Ray Kroc's expansion model to expand Blockbuster quickly, and soon they open a new store every 24 hours. They took over many of Blockbuster's existing franchise stores, and Huizenga even spent most of the late 1980s acquiring some of Blockbuster's competitors, including Major Video.
In 1990, Blockbuster bought mid-Atlantic rivals Erol's which has more than 250 stores. In 1992, Blockbuster purchased the music retail chain Sound Warehouse and Music Plus and created Blockbuster Music. In October 1993, Blockbuster took over interest in Spelling Entertainment Group, a media company run by television producer Aaron Spelling. It also has 35% Republican Image; the company joined the Spell in April 1994.
Blockbuster is a multibillion-dollar company, but Huizenga is worried about how new technologies can threaten their business, such as video on demand and cable television growth. In 1991, just three days after Time Warner announced they would upgrade their cabling system, Blockbuster shares fell by more than 10 percent. In 1993 he made efforts to expand into other areas by investing in Viacom. Huizenga is also considering buying a cable company, but this is an unknown territory for Blockbuster and he decided not to take any chances. He also had an idea about the 2,500 acre sports and amusement park in Florida, something Blockbuster still considered until the end of August 1994. Could not find a proper solution on how to deal with the growing threats on traditional videostores, he made the decision to sell Blockbuster to Viacom and pull it out. Viacom acquired Blockbuster in 1994 for $ 8.4 billion to help finance its offer for Paramount in a bidding war with QVC Network Inc. Blockbuster stock trading had declined steadily a few months before the merger, with a small increase after the deal was announced, and three years later, in 1997, its value was estimated at only $ 4.6 billion.
The Blockbuster Block Party concept has been marketed in Albuquerque, New Mexico and Indianapolis, Indiana in 1994. It is an adult entertainment "entertainment complex", containing eight themed areas containing restaurants, games, laser tags, and vehicle-simulator rides. , and placed in a windowless building the size of a city block.
During the 1990s, Blockbuster expanded in the United Kingdom, buying the country's Ritz Video chain. The stores were renamed Blockbuster, making it the number one rental chain in the UK.
In 1996, Blockbuster Entertainment Corporation was renamed Blockbuster Entertainment Inc. and a retail store, then called Blockbuster Video, was renamed Blockbuster. The logo changed slightly, but retained the ITC Machine font. In November 1996, Blockbuster confirmed that he moved his headquarters from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to the Renaissance Tower in downtown Dallas. Most of the workers at Florida headquarters do not want to move, so Blockbuster plans to hire about 500 to 600 new employees for its headquarters in Dallas. The company has offered various relocation packages to all Fort Lauderdale staff.
1997-2007: John Antioco
In 1998, Blockbuster created DEJ Productions, which acquired 225 films primarily to provide exclusive content to its Blockbuster stores before being sold to First Look Studios in 2005. During the same year, Blockbuster purchased the Irish Xtra-vision video rental store, with more from 200 stores in Ireland and the UK. In 2009, Blockbuster sold its Irish operations to Birchall Investments, with some Xtra-vision stores in Britain renamed Blockbuster.
In 1998, when the DVD appeared as a new video medium, Warner Bros. offered an exclusive lease offer to Antioco. Blockbuster will have the right to rent a new DVD release for a certain period of time before it is sold to the general public. The studio will receive 40% of the rental income in return, which is the same existing deal for VHS rentals. Blockbuster rejected the offer, and the studio responded by lowering the wholesale price of their DVDs in order to compete with the rental industry. Walmart took advantage of the opportunity and in a few years surpassed Blockbuster as the single largest source of revenue for the studio. Other bulk retailers follow suit immediately. Many are beginning to sell DVDs below wholesale prices in the hope of selling more goods with better profit margins as a result of additional foot traffic in their stores. Unable to match pricing, Blockbuster's business model is severely affected.
In late 1998, Blockbuster launched a loyalty program called Blockbuster Rewards, where customers can obtain free rentals and receive an older title, called Blockbuster Favorite, free of rent every month. Following the launch of the 1998 trial, the chain entered nationwide with the program in 1999.
In August of the same year, Viacom sold Blockbuster Music's chain to Wherehouse Entertainment, which was later purchased by Trans World Entertainment in 2003.
In mid-2000, the company partnered with Enron in an effort to create video-on-demand services. Initially, the partnership should last for 20 years, however, Enron chose to terminate the deal in March 2001 because of concerns that Blockbuster will not be able to provide enough movies for the service. Also in 2000 Blockbuster denied the opportunity to buy the new Netflix for $ 50 million.
In 2002, Blockbuster acquired the Film Trading Company, a Dallas network that buys, sells, and trades movies and games, to learn about potential business models for DVD and game trading. Also in that year, he acquired Gamestation, a 64-store computer store and a British console game retailer, and purchased a $ 1 million Central DVD Rental, an Arizona father-and-child DVD dating company with around ten thousand subscribers. The DVD Central Rental will eventually turn into Blockbuster Online.
Blockbuster was separated from Viacom in 2004. An online DVD subscription was introduced at Blockbuster.com, also known as Blockbuster Online. Blockbuster also launched the "Game Rush" store-in-store concept to about 450 stores operated by domestic companies. Blockbuster started the game and trades DVDs in certain US stores.
At its peak in 2004, Blockbuster had over 9,000 stores in the US. In December 2004, Blockbuster announced its intention to pursue a Hollywood video takeover, a major US competitor. After several extensions of the tender offer, Blockbuster finally gave up mainly due to the refusal of the FTC. In response to Blockbuster's offer, Hollywood Video agreed to buy in January 2005 by a smaller competitor, Dothan, the Alabama-based Movie Gallery. Since then, the Film Gallery has filed for bankruptcy twice and the 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 council. Icahn accused Blockbuster of paying higher chairman and CEO John F. Antioco, who has served in that capacity since 1997, received $ 51.6 million in compensation for 2004. Icahn is also against Antioco on how to revive earnings in Blockbuster; Antioco canceled late fees in January, started internet services, and wanted to keep the company independent, while Icahn wanted to sell to private equity firms. Also in 2005, Blockbuster began running a campaign promoting the policy "No more late fees" The campaign proved controversial with the Associated Press reporting that the new policy actually weighed on users full price movies or games after eight days that could be canceled by returning the product in question and pay a fee. More than 40 countries filed a lawsuit against the company for false advertising. Blockbuster will then settle the lawsuit agreeing to return the customer's money as well as pledge to further explain the policy.
In 2006, Vintage Stock acquired the name of the Film Trading Company of Blockbuster and continued to use the name for the Dallas area shops.
The multibillion-dollar campaign called Total Access was introduced in 2007 as a strategy against Netflix. Through Blockbuster, Online customers can rent DVDs online and receive new movies for free when they return them to the Blockbuster store. While it's a huge success every free movie costs the company two dollars, but the expectation is that it will attract enough new customers to cover the losses. Netflix felt threatened, and Hastings approached Antioco with suggestions to buy Blocbuster's online business. In return the new system will be introduced where customers can return their film to the Blockbuster store. Before the deal could be realized, investor Carl Icahn intervened. Icahn refused to let the company lose more money through Total Access. Antioco was pushed out and replaced with James Keyes, who rejected Hasting's proposal, raised prices for online DVD rentals and ended the free movie deal. As a result, the massive growth of Pre-global Blockbuster Online quickly stopped. In July Antioco left the company, reportedly due to continued controversy over its compensation. He left with a $ 24.7 million severance package.
On June 19, 2007, after a pilot program was launched in late 2006, Blockbuster announced that it had selected Blu-ray through HD DVD rental format to rent in most of its stores. In the pilot program, Blockbuster offers selected titles for rent and sale at 250 stores. Blockbuster keeps the title of Blu-ray in nearly 5,000 stores across the United States, Canada, Britain, Mexico and Australia.
2007-2011: James Keyes
On July 2, 2007, the company was named James W. Keyes, former president and CEO of 7-Eleven, as new chairman and CEO. He introduced a new business strategy that includes upgrading to existing stores along with a shift to streaming video with MovieLink acquisition in September 2008. Part of the plan is to not emphasize the unprofitable Total Access (DVD-by-mail) service, supports online streaming. In December 2008, he still ignored Netflix and Redbox, focusing on Apple and Walmart instead; "Both RedBox and Netflix are even on the radar screen in terms of competition - it's more than WalMart and Apple."
On September 14, 2007, Blockbuster GB Ltd purchased a number of retail stores from ChoicesUK plc. ChoicesUK is a distributor of multi-channel and DVD retailers, computer games and CDs listed on AIM. Sales are guaranteed work for around 450 employees at 59 stores across the UK. As part of the transaction, Blockbuster GB changed the store name as Blockbuster.
On February 17, 2008, Blockbuster proposed the purchase of a thrashing Circuit City. However, after a complete review of Circuit City's financial books, Blockbuster withdrew its offer in July 2008. Analysts disliked the proposed deal, viewing it as a desperate attempt to rescue 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.
In early 2010, Blockbuster had more than 6,500 stores, of which 4,000 were in the US, a number that had been reduced to 3,425 by the end of October of the same year. In the United States, they plan to close between 810 and 960 retail stores and instead launch 10,000 "Blockbuster Express" video kiosks by mid-2010. It has been claimed that more than 43 million US households have Blockbuster membership.
On February 10, 2010, Blockbuster announced that it would suspend all its operations in Portugal, closing 17 outlets and causing more than 100 unemployed workers. Blockbuster representatives in Portugal blame internet piracy and the lack of a government response to it as a key factor of corporate failure in the country.
In March 2010, Blockbuster began "Additional Daily Rates", or "ADR", for non-refundable rentals on their due date in the United States, having used this procedure in other countries such as the UK for many years. ADR is charged for every day, a member keeps the lease outside of the lease terms. On March 12, 2010, PricewaterhouseCoopers, an independent public accounting firm listed in Blockbuster, issued an audit opinion that expressed substantial doubts about Blockbuster's ability to continue. This report is included in the submission of 10-K SEC Blockbusters. On March 17, 2010, Blockbuster issued a bankruptcy warning after a continuous decline in revenues threatened its ability to serve its nearly $ 1 billion debt burden. On April 1, 2010, Carl Icahn resigned from the Blockbuster board of directors and sold almost all of Blockbuster's remaining shares. Blockbuster is paired with Time Warner to make Warner Bros movies available at Blockbuster stores on DVD release date and is not subject to a four-week delay. A similar agreement was also made with Universal and 20th Century Fox.
In May 2010, the liquidation of the Film Gallery began, eliminating Blockbuster's main competitors. During the same month, an opposition shareholder, Gregory S. Meyer, in an attempt to be elected to Blockbuster's board of directors, was involved in a proxy battle with the Blockbuster council, alleging that the board had been responsible for the significant destruction of shareholders. Meyer was elected to the board at Blockbuster shareholder meeting in Dallas on June 24, 2010.
On July 1, 2010, the company was expelled from the New York Stock Exchange after its shareholders failed to pass the reversal stock split plan aimed at forcibly removing the stock because trading under $ 1 per share. The shares are then traded on OTCBB (an over-the-counter bulletin board).
Blockbuster was unable to pay interest of $ 42.4 million to the bondholders and was given until August 13, 2010 to repay the debt. The company employs Jeff Stegenga to become chief restructuring officer (CRO) in an effort to meet bondholders' demand and recapitalize the company. After failing to pay on August 13, the bondholders gave Blockbuster until September 30, 2010.
On August 26, 2010, the news media reported that Blockbuster planned to file for the pre-packaged Chapter 11 package 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, former CFO of Safety-Kleen Systems, Inc. On September 23, 2010, Blockbuster filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for challenging losses, $ 900 million debt, and strong competition from Netflix, Redbox, and on-demand video services. The Movie Gallery/Hollywood Video has proposed the dissolution of Bankruptcy Chapter 7 earlier in 2010 for the same reason.
At the time of filing for Chapter 11, Blockbuster said it would keep its 3,300 stores open; In December 2010, Blockbuster announced it would close 182 additional stores by the end of April 2011 in an effort to emerge from bankruptcy. It was reported in February 2011 that Blockbuster and its creditors did not come up with a plan to exit Chapter 11 and that the company would sell for $ 300 million or more, along with taking over debt and lease. Blockbuster has acknowledged that it may not be able to meet the financial obligations required in the filing of Chapter 11, a condition that could mandate the conversion of bankruptcy filings to Chapter 7 (liquidation). On March 1, 2011, the US Department of Justice filed a claim revealing that Blockbuster did not have the funds to continue the reorganization and had to liquidate.
On March 28, 2011, South Korean telecom company SK Telecom made a surprise bid to buy Blockbuster. Dish Network has also expressed interest in the offer, as did Carl Icahn, despite calling Blockbuster "the worst investment I've ever made". Dish finally won an auction on April 6, 2011, agreed to buy Blockbuster for $ 320 million and assumed $ 87 million in other obligations and obligations. On April 19, 2011, it was announced that Dish would only store 500 Blockbuster stores open. The acquisition was completed on April 26, 2011. In April 2011, Dish Network told the US Bankruptcy Court that it takes more time to negotiate with landlords in an effort to keep more than 600 Blockbuster stores open. The deal was finalized on April 26, 2011.
In April 2011, Blockbuster landlords objected to the lease assumption trying to assign to soon-to-be-owners of Dish Network Corp., claiming that they did not have adequate assurances that the new owners would honor the lease. Blockbuster signed an agreement with ITV Studios Global Entertainment to launch the ITV Program released on DVD, Blu-ray, etc.
2011-2015: Michael Kelly
On May 6, 2011, Keyes resigned as CEO of Blockbuster, replaced by Michael Kelly under the new president title.
On August 31, 2011, the liquidators announced the closure of 253 remaining Canadian stores and the closure of all Canadian units.
In September 2011 it was announced that Blockbuster and Dish Network will launch a new service called Blockbuster Movie Pass that will compete with Netflix. For US $ 10 per month, members will have access to streaming services and movies and game-by-mail. But the package was only available for Dish Network pay-TV subscribers, and finally folded.
On January 13, 2012, Dish CEO Aaron Kask announced that while Dish had planned to save 90% of the stores in operation, which meant about 15,000 employees would keep working, due to market factors "nothing would work" unprofitable stores. We will close additional stores. "Kask did not say when this additional closure would occur and said only that some shops were unprofitable.The head of Dish would not say which store was planned to be closed, but any potential closures should be assessed on a" case by case basis ".
On October 4, 2012, Dish Network announced that they threw out a plan to make Blockbuster a Netflix competitor. On January 16, 2013, Blockbuster UK went into administration and Deloitte was appointed to run the business while trying to find buyers while several stores remained open. Between November 6, 2013 and January 12, 2014, all 300 of the company's remaining Blockbuster stores in the US were closed and the DVD-by-mail program was closed. Blockbuster's official website identifies 51 franchise locations that still operate in the US in 2014.
2015-present: Post-Kelly era
The company maintained Blockbuster on Demand video streaming service along with Blockbuster @ Home TV package for Dish Network subscribers until 2015, when both were replaced by DISH Movie Pack. The continued decline of the company is due to poor leadership by others in the industry. Ken Tisher, the owner of one of Blockbuster's few remaining stores, said, "Blockbuster, if not, will go to 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 Videos, says many bad decisions are the main reason companies do not survive. And Rayburn from StreamingMedia.com stated that "everything about Blockbuster has been set to fail". Jonathan Salem Baskin, a former communications marketing executive at Blockbuster, said, "Digital is going to change Blockbuster business, for sure, but it's not the murderer, it's Blockbuster's own."
Additional store closures will also continue. In January 2018, the company's website will only list the nine remaining franchised stores in the US, including six in Alaska, two in Oregon, and one in Texas. However, six of the nine have been closed or are in the process of closing, leaving only two stores in Alaska and one in Oregon.
Maps Blockbuster LLC
Business model
The standard business model for a traditional video rental store is to pay a large fixed cost per video, about $ 65, and offer unlimited rentals for the medium life itself. Sumner Redstone, the conglomerate of Viacom who later owned Blockbuster, personally pioneered a new revenue-sharing arrangement for video in the mid-1980s. Blockbuster acquires videos for a small fee and saves 60% of the rent, pays the other 40% to the studio, and reports rental information through Rentrak. In addition to benefiting from a lower initial price, Blockbuster also makes use of the fact that films are generally not available for purchase at an affordable price during the initial release period. Thus, customers have the option of hiring, waiting, or purchasing movies on the ribbon at higher retail prices suggested by higher manufacturers targeted at lease chains and other movie enthusiasts, which at that time range from $ 70- $ 100 per title.
Number and choice of title
The blockbuster store follows a strategy emphasizing access to the most popular new releases, gaining initial access and saving multiple copies of new release titles, with relatively smaller selection depths than traditional independent video stores. Most of the shelf space in stores is devoted to popular titles that are placed relatively rarely on shelves with the entire front cover visible, so customers can browse casually and quickly, rather than having a more diverse selection with fewer copies of each title. In contrast, independent video rental stores usually tend to keep a large selection of old titles placed solid on shelves with only thorns that look like in a traditional book library. Blockbusters are sometimes contracted with the studio to gain early access to a new title than any other company can achieve. An example of such a contract is where Blockbuster becomes an exclusive lease chain for new releases from The Weinstein Company and Warner Bros. As one commentator complained, "Blockbuster was once an unstoppable giant whose franchise swept across the country putting moms and pop video stores out of left and right businesses by offering more new release options, setting their prices to a lower point because of the volume they're working on... Lost are separately and separately owned stores that are often a collection of unorganized treasures of VHS invention.Those are new release walls: hundreds of copies of a small film.Everyone watches the same thing , everyone develops the same set of expectations... They put a full focus on what's new rather than discovering the history of the movie. "
When a title is no longer a new release, each store will store multiple copies and usually sell the rest as "previously viewed" for a discounted price. The old movie will be re-categorized as the title of "Blockbuster Favorite" and placed in a different area of ​​the store. Most Blockbuster locations also accept exchange of movies and games used.
Since the establishment of Blockbuster in 1985, the network has refused to provide adult movies to portray the brand as family-friendly. However, the company does carry R-rated and unrated movies.
Other businesses
Blockbuster Entertainment Awards
Blockbuster Inc. hosted an awards event annually from 1995 to 2001 called the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards . In November 2001, Blockbuster announced that it would cancel the 2002 awards ceremony following concerns about viewers and the presence of celebrities after the September 11 attacks.
Blockbuster Express
Blockbuster Express is a film rental kiosk brand sublicensed for use by NCR Corporation licensing companies. In 2011, nearly 10,000 Blockbuster Express kiosks operate. In addition to the license to use the Blockbuster brand name, Blockbuster Express kiosks are not associated with Blockbuster LLC, its stores, its DVD-to-mail service, or its online streaming service.
The names of Blockbuster Express and Blockbuster Video Express have also been used for certain Blockbuster retail stores in the UK.
GameRush
In the summer of 2003, Blockbuster began changing some stores to GameRush stores. These stores sell and buy DVDs, games, game consoles, and accessories. GameRush is positioned as a direct competitor to stores like GameStop and Crazy Games. Blockbuster uses its location status to get instant coverage; it also promotes these stores by organizing video-game tournaments, special trade-in offers, and a more "cool" look for choice and staff. However, when Blockbuster introduces a termination fee stoppage, GameRush is put on the cutting block. In April 2007, GameRush stores were reduced back to just the game section.
Blockbuster UK operates trading functions in all of their stores, buying and selling previously owned consoles, including PS2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, Wii, PS3, Xbox 360 DVDs, DVD Games, games and accessories, and matching prices with competitors by offering credit savings or cash to trade-in.
International operations
Australia
In Australia, the first Blockbuster store opened in 1991 in Melbourne. In 1992, Virgin Group and Blockbuster Inc. entered into a joint venture to establish the first Virgin Megastores in Australia in Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide. This went on until Virgin sold flowers in six stores to Blockbuster, which soon changed their name in 1993 as Blockbuster Music. In 1994, the number of Australian stores increased to 54 with the acquisition of Major Video and Focus chains in Victoria and South Australia. In 1995, growth continued with the opening of the 100th video store in the country. At the end of 1998, Blockbuster Australia opened more than 125 stores. In July 1998, Blockbuster Australia was launched into a franchise with the conversion of the previous Flicks Video franchise group in Queensland, and former Movieland group in Western Australia six months later. Also in 1998, the company sold its last two Australian Blockbuster Music stores in Pitt Street, Sydney, and Chapel Street, Melbourne to Brazin Limited, which incorporated it with the Sanity Entertainment brand. Throughout 1999 and 2000, Blockbuster Australia rapidly expanded its shop franchise network through the conversion of small groups and individual franchising. Prior to 2005, this was done through the acquisition of Movies Plus Group and the conversion of some 4U Movieland and Film outlets.
In February 2007, Blockbuster sold its entire Australian store network to Video Ezy Australasia Pty Ltd. At the time, Blockbuster Australia comprised 370 29-owned national outlets and 341 owned by franchisees. Video Ezy has 518 Australian outlets, all owned by franchisees, pushing the combined group market share to 40% of the video rental sector in the country. Video Ezy is committed to a major franchise agreement with Blockbuster for 10 years operating the brand with possible updates over the next 10 years thereafter. As a consequence of the deal, the company changed its name from Video Ezy Australasia Pty Ltd to Franchise Entertainment Group (FEG).
In October 2010, FEG transferred control of Australia's Ezy Australia and Blockbuster video business to the newly acquired and reorganized company, ÃÆ'â € lan Media Partners, leaving FEG to manage the franchise relationship with each Ezy/Blockbuster Video outlet. However, as the two brands united, the network shrank, reflected in the Ezy/Blockbuster Video franchise that closed 270 stores across Australia in four years until August 2011.
2017 has seen closing at least 4 other stores between New South Wales, Canberra, Victoria and Queensland. In 2017, there are only 12 outlets, in addition to about 70 automatic booths, remaining in Australia. In January 2018, another store announced it would close.
Brazil
Blockbuster is the largest video rental network in the country, but the finances are not good enough because of the high rental rates. Lojas Americanas, Brazil's largest department store, earned half of its shares and is now named under "Americanas Express Blockbuster". The store layout is similar to an ordinary American store with Game Rush, but instead it offers electronic goods like computers and DVD players, groceries like candy and microwave popcorn, and even toys from Mattel and Hasbro board games. In January 2007, when Blockbuster had 127 stores across Brazil, it sold its Brazilian stake for $ 87.4 million and awarded Lojas Americanas exclusive rights to Blockbuster brand in the country for 20 years. The average store has an interior around 400 m2, where 80-100 m2 is dedicated to the film.
Canada
In Canada, Blockbuster Canada (established in 1990) has operated independently, and at first remained financially stable. It started a partnership with Wind Mobile in December 2009, selling phones in all stores in the cities where Wind services are available. Phone sales started in Toronto and Calgary, then expanded to other cities with Wind coverage. Some stores even feature a full-store "in-store" Wind shop for postpaid activation and larger device options. However, on May 3, 2011, it was announced that the company had entered the curator. On May 25, 2011, it was announced that 146 stores, accounting for about 35% of the company's stores in Canada, will be turned off effective June 18, 2011. On August 31, 2011, Canadian Blockbuster announced that no buyers could be found. for the remainder of the store acceptable to the bankruptcy recipient appointed by the court, and that it will cease operations and close all stores by December 31, 2011. The Company has acted as the guarantor of Blockbuster's remaining debts.
Denmark
Blockbuster came to Denmark in 1996 with the acquisition of 29 Christianshavn video stores. In 2009 they were at its peak with 72 stores across the country. Blockbuster Video Denmark sold the rights to the Blockbuster brand to the Danish TDC telecommunications company in 2013, excluding 46 brick and mortar stores that continued as RecycleIT A/S, diversifying in the repair and resale of consumer electronics in addition to the sale and rental of games and movies. The original goal was to change the name of all stores before July 1, 2014, when the TDC will get exclusive rights to the brand name in Denmark, but only 12 of them have been renamed at the end of June and RecycleIT A/S filed for bankruptcy. the same year. 12 RecycleIT stores purchased by Blue City company. The new owners plan to gradually stop the sale of games and movies as well as rentals in 2016, but because of the rapid changes in the market, it happens immediately after the takeover, and seven stores are closed by 2015. By 2017, the remaining five start to generate profits, exclusively on used consumer electronics
However, Blockbuster On Demand service is still active in the Nordic Country, offering unlimited streaming and 48 hours of online movie rentals. Some Smart TVs have Blockbuster apps pre-installed out of the box, and are available on various streaming devices like Google Chromecast.
German
Blockbuster opened 20 stores in Berlin and Munich and announced plans to open 250 more. Although the business model that allows multi-day rentals, different from the German video stores that will be charged by calendar day, double charging if the film is returned the next day, the chain left the German market in 1997.
ireland
In March 2010, Blockbuster announced that it intends to sell all operations in Europe. The company once owned an Irish subsidiary, Xtravision, which does not operate under the Blockbuster brand name. Blockbuster sold Xtravision with a loss in August 2009 to Birchhall Investments Limited. In early 2016 it was decided to close all 83 of its stores except for its online business and vending machines.
Israel
In the late 2000s at its peak, Blockbuster Israel has 40 branches and more than 260 automatic video rentals. In December 2011, Blockbuster closed its last branch, and only 80 remaining automatic video rentals.
Japanese
In March 1991, Fujita Den Trading (which is the main franchise owner of McDonald's in Japan) and Blockbuster Inc. entered into a joint venture to establish the first Blockbuster Video store in Japan. In October 1992, Fujita and Blockbuster opened 15 stores in the country - four of which were next to McDonald's outlets and mostly located in the greater Tokyo area. Unlike US stores in Blockbuster, each Japanese outlet occupies only about half of the floor space at 5,000 square feet due to the limited real estate available in the country. In June 1996, 32 stores operated with a public goal for 150 in 1998. Japanese blockbuster faces tough competition from Osaka-based video rental network, Tsutaya, with its 817 outlets, but the company sees opportunities in populations with high VCR holdings. rate (about 75%), low satellite TV penetration (about 27%), and well-ordered store layout (unique to most local video stores). However, Blockbuster's business strategy of "healthy home entertainment" sees it does not provide adult entertainment or extreme horror movies in which they account for 35% of the Japanese video market. That means Blockbuster can not enter the Japanese market adequately, and is harmed by other businesses that sell and rent these movies. In 1999, Blockbuster handed over its remaining shares to Fujita Den Trading and left the Japanese market.
Mexico
Starting September 2015, all of Blockbuster's remaining retail stores (totaling 263) in Mexico have been converted to "The B Store", and the floor space dedicated to video rentals is reduced from 70% to 20%. In 2016, it was reported that all remaining B-stores were closed.
Norwegian
In December 2002, the first Blocbuster shop opened in Norway, and followed by another shop months later in 2003, both located in Oslo. The hope is to get an existing video chain. When it failed, it made an effort to build a Norwegian blockbuster chain from scratch. But the two stores closed in the spring of 2004.
Peru
In 2007, Blockbuster announced that it plans to close its store in Peru because of poor revenue, which is blamed on the effects of film piracy. The company has closed its stores in Ecuador, Portugal and Costa Rica. El Salvador followed in 2010, and Argentina in 2011.
United Kingdom
In 1989, the company entered the United Kingdom through the purchase of the $ 135 million Ritz Video 875-store chain, from its parent company Citivision. Ritz Video is Europe's largest rental network, with a share of 20% of the UK video market, and annual sales of about $ 150 million. The first branded Blockbuster outlet opened at Walworth Road, South London, in the same year. In November 1991, Blockbuster UK turned 30 stores into its brand.
In early 2013, the company has 528 locations in the UK. On January 16, 2013, Blockbuster placed its British subsidiary in administration, placing more than 4,000 jobs at risk. The non-English stores are not affected by the administration, and continue to trade as usual. On February 1, 2013, a large number of Blockbuster stores in the UK were closed, and British business was purchased from the administration by the restructuring of Gordon Brothers Europe on March 23, 2013.
Blockbuster UK was later traded as Operation TS , with only 264 branches retained. On October 29, 2013, Blockbuster UK announced it would go into administration for the second time. On November 14, 2013, 72 store closures were announced, with 62 other closures being made on December 5th. A week later, unsuccessfully finding a buyer, announced by Moorfields Corporate Recovery that all remaining stores in the country will cease operating on December 16, 2013, with stocks cleared the day before.
Online rentals
United States
In 1997, Enron Corporation has entered the broadband market, built and purchased thousands of miles of fiber optic cables throughout the United States. In 2001, Enron and Blockbuster Inc. is trying to make a 20-year deal to stream movies on demand through Enron's fiber optic network. However, the "highly promoted" deal failed, with Enron's stocks dropping following the announcement.
On August 11, 2004, Blockbuster introduced a DVD-per-mail service in the US to compete with an established market leader, Netflix.
Blockbuster online operations in the US starts with about 10 warehouses; further expansion each year brings that number to 41, plus more than 1400 stores on the Blockbuster Online network. Most of Blockbuster's independent franchises do not honor the Total Access program. The company had 1.5 million subscribers by the end of the third quarter of 2006. Blockbuster's move to follow the business pattern with its online lease as established by Netflix prompted Netflix to sue Blockbuster for patent infringement. Blockbuster counters sued with counterclaim claims of fraudulent practices with patents allegedly designed to defend illegal monopolies. The lawsuit was finally settled, and while the provisions were not disclosed, it was later reported that Netflix posted a settlement payment from Blockbuster of $ 4.1 million in the second quarter of 2007.
Blockbuster offers several online movie rental plans. In some cities, customers can add games to their movie rental queue as if they were included in the plan, but game rentals resulted in separate additional costs that were not shown or billed until the end of the billing cycle. Until July 26, 2007, Blockbuster offers and advertises free exchange at an unlimited online store with all packages. Since then there have been several changes back and forth regarding this policy; in March 2010, customers were allowed to exchange in stores in limited quantities.
By the end of 2006, Blockbuster Total Access had 2.2 million subscribers, exceeding their initial target of 2 million, according to its website. After an aggressive media campaign that accounted for most of Blockbuster's net loss of $ 46.4 million in the first quarter of 2007, Total Access total customers exceeded 3 million total subscribers, marking the company's highest ever quarter of customer growth. In 2009, however, the company declined to give figures when asked by The Wall Street Journal.
On January 5, 2007, Southern Stores Inc., one of the largest Blockbuster franchise operators in the United States, filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging that, by introducing Blockbuster Online and Blockbuster Total Access, the lease chain has weakened the group's franchise agreement.
On August 6, 2010, Blockbuster By Mail customers got access to the Blockbuster game console library, in addition to movies and television shows.
On March 31, 2012, Blockbuster On Demand erased support from the set-top box media player, including Vudu, WDTV, and Roku. Supported devices now include only computers, Blu-ray players, select television sets, and cell phones.
On February 26, 2013, Roku, Inc. announced that Blockbuster On Demand is being launched at the Roku channel store. Supported devices now include computers, Blu-ray players, select television sets, cell phones, and Roku decoders.
In November 2013, Dish Network said its DVD-per-mail service will close in mid-December.
In 2015, Blockbuster on Demand is part of the Sling TV Dish Network product and no longer exists as a standalone service.
United Kingdom
Rents charge Ã, £ 3.50 to Ã, £ 4.50 and last for five nights, usually from Monday to Friday due to the postal service. The cost of delay Ã, Â £ 0.70 to Ã, Â £ 0.90 per disk is applied if the disc is not returned timely.
In May 2004, Blockbuster also introduced a conventional online subscription service. Package of three-discs with no cost limit Ã, £ 14.99/month but does not allow exchanges in store, contrary to US service. Partial support for store exchange will not be added until April 2005 with the launch of the "OnlineXtra" service. The service is worth Ã, Â £ 2 per month, requires an online subscription to the disk plan, and adds two extra disks sent by mail. OnlineXtra Disks can be redeemed at the store, but non-OnlineXtra discs can not. The program was discontinued in 2006 without grandfathering, but the in-store variant only reappeared in early 2008. The "Click & Drop" service launched in September 2010 allows Blockbuster movie bookings at the store, but regular rental stores are applied until the company adds in-stores that were redeemed in May 2012. Support for game bookings was added in November 2011.
In 2008, the Blockbuster UK website underwent an overhaul, with online stores; retail store stock checker; improve search functionality; and critically acclaimed layouts. In-store pickup and exclusive titles were added in 2009. Some titles that have a period of exclusivity in Blockbuster include Gran Torino, Changeling, Taken, and Knowing. In addition, Universal Pictures' online rental downloads in the UK remain exclusive to Blockbuster. This provides benefits to rental companies compared to its competitors HMV, Play, and LoveFilm.
In January 2010, Blockbuster UK launched an online blog. Improved search algorithms, product pages, and social networking links were added to the site in April 2010. Blockbuster UK broadcasted the monthly online video show of BB Insider from May 2010 to January 2011 and launched the iPhone App in September 2010 Throughout 2011, Blockbuster UK announced several rebates along with the new Blockbuster loyalty card program.
This price reduction was followed by a fall in the price of online payments per Blockbuster UK rental service. Although some British Blockbuster advertisements claim that companies no longer charge late fees, fine print and/or voiceover makes it clear that rentals will cost an extra pound for each additional night. The "Top Ticket" feature was added in April 2011, allowing monthly subscribers to rent additional movies at no additional cost and receive them before any other movie they requested. Support for online sales of used movies and game discs was added in July 2011. Blockbuster UK website has been upgraded in September 2011. Over the next month, a new TV section was added to the website.
3D Blu-rays added to Blockbuster UK in February 2012. In May 2012, Blockbuster UK partnered with IGN to launch the new VIP Gamer Blockbuster loyalty program.
On January 16, 2013, Blockbuster UK entered the administration, appointing Deloitte as corporate administrator, raising doubts over the future of their 528 stores in the country. An announcement was later made by Deloitte that 160 British stores would be closed.
On February 13, 2013 Deloitte announced more than 164 store closures, leaving 204 stores traded in the UK. The business was sold to the restructuring company Gordon Brothers Group on March 23, 2013. On October 29, 2013, Gordon Brothers filed a notice of intent 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 buyers for the chain were found.
Brazil
In January 2006, Blockbuster Brazil also introduced an online rental service that now features DVD and Blu-ray plans. There are four Block plans available with prices ranging from R $ 34.90 to R $ 79.90. The 3-disc package with unlimited exchange is R $ 49.90/month. Unlike the US service, there is no disk exchange at the store.
Acquisition Movielink
On August 8, 2007, Blockbuster announced that they reached an agreement to buy Movielink. According to the 8-K filing by Blockbuster, the total purchase price is $ 6.6 million.
Disclaimer of Netflix purchase offer
In 2000, Reed Hastings, founder of Netflix, approached Blockbuster with an offer to sell his company to Blockbuster for US $ 50 million. John Antioco, CEO of Blockbuster, was not interested in the offer because he thought it was "a very small niche business" and at that time lost money.
Ads
Super Bowl
One of Blockbuster's most famous ad campaigns was launched during the 2002 Super Bowl. It starred in the votes of Jim Belushi and James Woods, as a rabbit and guinea pig in a pet store, located across the street from the Blockbuster store. The first campaign ended in 2003. Carl and Ray's campaign started again in 2007 starting with an advertisement in the first quarter of Super Bowl XLI.
Misleading ad
In 2005, Blockbuster launched a marketing campaign that explains the changes in its late fees policy and offers "No Charges Late" for rentals. The program triggered investigations and false accusations in 48 states and the District of Columbia, as state statewide prosecutors including Bill Lockyer of California, Greg Abbott of Texas, and Eliot Spitzer of New York argued that customers were automatically charged full purchase price of the rental fee and the restocking fee for the leaseback after 30 days. In the settlement, Blockbuster agrees to reimburse the cost of their investigation, clarify communications to customers with program requirements, and offer reimbursement to customers charged before clarification. New Jersey filed a separate lawsuit and not a party to the settlement.
The 2005 controversy arose after the related lawsuit was resolved in 2002 in Texas. The lawsuit, on a very high charge charge, caused the company to pay $ 9.25 million for attorneys' fees and to offer $ 450 million in late fee repayment (which is a one-free rental coupon, and thus require customers to make an initial outlay ). The company estimates that the coupon will eventually cost about $ 45 million depending on the rate of redemption; a lawyer for plaintiffs estimates the final cost is close to $ 100 million with a redemption rate of about 20% (calculated based on a similar case in Michigan).
Such corrections are also sent to international stores such as in Canada to prevent further lawsuits.
Blockbuster reintroduced a late fee in the United States in 2010 under the name "Daily Daily Tariff". With this pricing scheme, rentals are again limited to a certain number of days and the cost of payments per day after the allocated day is exceeded.
Senior management history
- John F. Antioco, CEO: 1997-2007
- James W. Keyes, CEO: 2007-2011
- Kevin Lewis, senior vice president and marketing director: 2008-2012
- Dennis McGill, executive vice president and chief financial officer: 2010-2013
- Michael Kelly, president: 2011-2015
See also
- Hollywood Videos
- Family Videos
- Movie Gallery
- Netflix
- Dish Network
References
External links
- Official website
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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