Blockbuster Scoops Netflix on Warner Bros. Titles

March 23, 2010 By Nick Mokey

A new agreement will grant Blockbuster the exclusive right to rent Warner Bros. titles for 28 days after release on DVD and Blu-ray.

If you want to rent the complete Lord of the Rings trilogy, Sherlock Holmes and Poseidon before anyone else, find your way down to the local Blockbuster, because Netflix won’t have them. On Tuesday, the company announced that it has struck a deal with Warner Bros. to rent out the studio’s movies exclusively for the first 28 days following every DVD and Blu-ray release.

“This agreement reinforces Blockbuster’s position as the most convenient source for new movies, and we are pleased to offer our customers the opportunity to get hot new movies as soon as they are released,” said Blockbuster CEO James Keyes. “This gives Blockbuster a full four week lead before either kiosk or other subscription services can offer any Warner Bros. titles.”

Now $856 million in debt from flagging rentals due to competitors like Netflix and Redbox, Blockbuster now bills itself as the only “multi-channel” provider of movies: The company offers movies through traditional brick-and-mortar rental stores, by mail, and on-demand through the Web. The company recently warned investors that it may have to file for bankruptcy if efforts to liquidate its debt fail.

Showing 5 comments

After spending millions on ads, Blockbuster loses its 28 day advantage over Netflix and Redbox at 4:30am 17th December 2010 [...] it from running an ad campaign touting its last known advantage: it gets DVD/Blu-ray releases 28 days before Netflix and Redbox. Well, not anymore. The rental company is going back on its promise. Its rental kiosk [...]
Nomo Blockbuster at 4:43pm 21st April 2010 Blockbuster's management have no clue, let alone a plan.

The Blockbuster brand has been reduced to that of inconvenience, poor selection and overall dissatisfaction. Nobody is going to want to support that. Blockbuster and its 28-day advantage will not help it much at all since people are more than willing to wait rather than do business with Blockbuster ever again.

CEO Keyes has been leading everybody on and playing the shareholders for fools for years. Those that finally chose to remove the blinders like Carl Icahn fled the company before Blockbuster could waste further capital.

Economics suggests that companies like Blockbuster that waste capital and fail to meet the customer's needs deserve to be gone for good in order to make the economy better. So, what is taking so long?
Phoebe_b at 3:15am 24th March 2010 This is definitely a coup for Blockbuster, but doesn't look to me like the magic sauce that will save a failing business.
Ian Bell at 5:06pm 23rd March 2010 What gets me is the Blockbuster late fees too. I am not a huge fan of the company, but I have to admit that it's nice being able to stop by and get a movie when I want it rather than waiting days for it to show up in the mail.
M. Scott Rogers at 2:15pm 23rd March 2010 In my city, I've had the opportunity to watch 3 Blockbuster stores close down and I'm not crying about it. The charges have been outrageous for the past several years. Over $8 for game rentals and most new releases around $5! Even though that's for 5 days, I've rarely kept a title for more than 3. BB would be better off being truly competative by being innovative rather than simply hanging on the shirttails of others like Netflix.
Give the consumer something no one else has offered them and maybe they might get back in the game.
Frankly, I think BB is doomed.