A bit of exciting news from our digital enclave in sunny Los Angeles: Blockbuster On Demand is available on the newly released HTC Droid Incredible 2. We’re fancy!
So now you can order and watch movies from Blockbuster on the newest Droid phone. What does the Droid Incredible 2 involve? Well, I’ll tell you. Read More
Hey, we’re on another cool new phone! Now you can instantly watch movies from Blockbuster On Demand on the just-released HTC Thunderbolt from Verizon, which seems extra slick and looks like this: Read More
You may have heard that the Guitar Hero series has been discontinued. And while it is better for rock stars to burn out than to fade away, it’s still sad news for fans of the franchise.
To cheer you up, we’re offering a special deal at participating Blockbuster stores: rent a Guitar Hero game between now and 2/21, and you’ll get half off a second game rental! Just mention the deal when you check out.
Find a store near you. Read More
Being my first CES, to say it was not what I expected is an understatement. The number of people and the extent that the exhibitors go to create a “booth” was beyond anything I had imagined. My naïve self asked the info desk which of the 5 venues was the exhibition center. The gentleman replied, “All of them.”
I was a like tourist visiting NYC for the first time: my eyes lit up by the signs and bright lights, pushing through the dense bustling crowd, the techy sounds and rock and pop music humming in background, my jaw wide open. I didn’t at the time realize that strategy was key to taking it all in (note to self for day 2).
So here was my day: a little glimpse of CES, the small percentage of it I’ve gotten to cover so far. Because this is a conference of visual amazement, and me being a very visual kind of girl, I’ll keep the talkie talk short and just show you the goods. Read More
This Sunday, December 5, we’re doing something special for our internet friends. When you go to a participating Blockbuster store and say the phrase “Blockbuster has new low prices,” you’ll get a free $2.99 “Top Pick” or “Value” movie rental!
Just pick out any movie from the middle of our store that’s $2.99 or less, take it to the counter, say the magic words, and we’ll rent it to you for free.
So get out there on Sunday and take advantage of your free rental, America! Find a store near you.
Click the handy Share This link at the top or bottom of this post to spread the good cheer to everyone you know. Read More
In our continuing efforts to offer movie downloads on all the sweetest new gadgets, we’re on the newly-released-as-of-today Samsung Galaxy Tab tablet and Samsung Continuum phone.
Now Blockbuster On Demand is on nearly 100 different devices, including phones, TVs, Blu-ray players, and more. How cool is that? Answer: pretty cool, actually.
Samsung Galaxy Tab
Samsung Continuum
I promised to keep you updated when our on demand movies became available on fancy new gadgets. Today, I keep that promise, because Blockbuster On Demand is available on the awesome new Samsung Fascinate phone from Verizon!
Similar to the Droid 2 and Droid X, the Blockbuster app comes pre-loaded on the Fascinate. That means you’ll be able to download hundreds of movies to watch on the phone, with no monthly fees, due dates, or late fees. And that includes most new releases! Read More
A lot of people say to me, “David, I love watching movies from Blockbuster, but I’m a bit of a hobo/International Man of Mystery, and I’m not often in front of a TV and DVD/Blu-ray player. What can we do to solve this admittedly first world problem?”
Well, figment of my imagination, your eloquent question has been answered — now you can download and watch Blockbuster On Demand movies on the latest Droid phones from Motorola and Verizon! You can download all sorts of movies from Blockbuster On Demand, including new releases, with no monthly fees, due dates, or late fees.
The Blockbuster app comes pre-loaded on the Droid X and the incredibly new (just released today) Droid 2. All you have to do is activate the app, then get started buying/renting movies and watching them on your sweet new phone. The best part is that when you activate, you’ll get SPECIAL BONUS PRIZES. Find out more by clicking the links for each phone below. Read More
I pictured this as one of those old-timey news reels they used to show before movies, with telegraph noises and everything, but I lack both the technological skills and sheer moxie to pull that off. Anyway, we’ve had a lot of good company-related news lately, and I thought I’d share it with you all here. The three major announcements we’ve had in the past week are:
Rental Deal with Warner Bros
We just finalized a deal with Warner Bros that will allow us to continue to rent their movies the day they’re released. So, say you’re determined to rent Sherlock Holmes when it’s released on March 30. We have you covered, my saucy friend — we’ll have it on DVD and Blu-ray in stores and by mail, and we’ll also have it to rent digitally through BLOCKBUSTER On Demand. Netflix and Redbox won’t have it until 28 days after release. It’s kind of a big deal.
BLOCKBUSTER On Demand now on HTC HD2 Phones
If you are a fancy, jetsetting master of travel like me and George Clooney, you’ve probably wanted to have a movie to watch on a flight, limousine ride, or elephant-back safari. Well, if you have a new HTC HD2 phone (which looks quite sweet), you can download movies over a Wi-Fi connection, then watch them wherever you want. They didn’t even have that kind of future-y technology on Star Trek! Sure, they had a holodeck, but I never saw Warf watching Stripes on his tricorder. And who’s to say we’re not working on that whole holodeck thing (we’re not)?
Find out more.
A review of the phone from ZDNet.
We’re Also on Samsung Devices
BLOCKBUSTER On Demand was already on some Samsung HDTVs, Blu-ray players, and home theater systems, but now we’re on even more! The BLOCKBUSTER On Demand app will be available on many of Samsung’s 2010 products. There’s no monthly fee: all you do is launch the app, select a movie you want to rent or buy, and the cost is automatically debited from your card on file. I’ve seen a movie played through a Samsung TV, and it looks and sounds great.
We’re working on a number of other major deals right now. As they are announced, I’ll be sure to blog about them here. Stay tuned!
I sat down today with Bruce Anderson, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Blockbuster On Demand, to answer a few of your most frequently asked questions about our digital service.
What is the difference between Blockbuster On Demand and Netflix’s digital service?
The primary difference between us and Netflix is that we’re focused on new releases, and Netflix isn’t. The vast majority of Netflix’s streaming content is a combination of TV shows and older movies.
Most of our digital movies are available to buy the same day as the DVD and Blu-ray versions. That’s becoming increasingly true for digital rentals, as well. So for example, we’ve had Couples Retreat available for streaming and downloading since February 9 when it was released on DVD and Blu-ray. We’ve had The Hangover and Star Trek since they came out, but as of today they’re still not available to stream from Netflix. Years can go by before a movie is available from Netflix — Erin Brockovich came out 10 years ago and you can’t stream it from Netflix.
Our goal is to offer all the movies our customers want most without them having to pay a monthly fee and wait.
Nothing that hit theaters in 2010 is out digitally yet, but we’ve got a bunch coming. In the meantime, here’s a list of the top 10 movies in 2009 (from boxofficemojo.com):
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Hangover
Star Trek
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Paul Bart: Mall Cop
Angels & Demons
Terminator Salvation
Every one of those movies is currently available to rent and purchase from Blockbuster On Demand except Paul Blart: Mall Cop, which is only available to purchase. Paul Blart is also the only one on the list that’s available to stream from Netflix.
Another key difference is that we offer a download option for our customers. This is really great for customers who travel with a laptop — you can download The Hurt Locker to your laptop and enjoy it on your flight or road trip, since you don’t have to be connected to watch. Literally, our customers can watch digital movies on planes, trains, and automobiles (oh yes, we have that movie too!). Downloads also let you build up a library on your PC that you can watch on your Xbox (via home network) or put on portable devices like certain Archos players. Through our relationships with HTC and Motorola, our customers will soon be able to download to smartphones. You can’t do any of that if all you have is streaming.
Why do we charge for the service, instead of making it part of our movies by-mail subscription (like Netflix did)?
Again, it is all about new releases — we want to bring our customers the latest movies and the latest movies are only available on a pay-as-you-go basis.
Movies generally aren’t available through a subscription until they broadcast on TV, at which point you could probably stream them from Netflix, but even then they aren’t free because you have to pay a monthly fee.
Why doesn’t Blockbuster On Demand work on a Mac, and are there any plans to have Mac compatibility in the future?
Initially, our primary focus was to get service going on blockbuster.com. Later that focus shifted to making it work on TVs, Blu-ray players, and other consumer electronics. Now that we’ve established those channels, our goal is to bring Blockbuster On Demand to the Mac later this year.
Why do you delay the release of digital rentals as opposed to digital purchases?
Short answer: we don’t. Longer answer: The studios set availability dates, not us. Some movies are available to us for digital rental and purchase the same day as DVD and Blu-ray, while others aren’t available to us for digital rental until a couple of weeks later. For example, The Time Traveler’s Wife came out for digital rental and purchase on February 9, but Saw VI was available for digital purchase two weeks before digital rental.
When are you going to put Blockbuster On Demand on all the other internet-connected Blu-ray and TV brands? What about game consoles?
Stay tuned. You’ll see many more electronics brands carrying Blockbuster On Demand this year. The game consoles are more challenging, as Microsoft and Sony would rather operate their own digital movie stores than partner with us. We believe we can help them rent and sell more movies, so we’ll keep working on the relationship.
Follow-up: why not just do what Netflix did on the PS3?
We could do like Netflix did (make a BD-Live disk for the PS3), but we’d rather work with Sony than work around them. This wouldn’t help with Xbox though, because that console doesn’t do Blu-ray.
Any final words?
We’re bringing our customers the movies they want, where they want them, and when they want them.
