BlockBuster lowers price again

[stiltman]

Since this thread was locked I thought I'd create a new one

http://news.com.com/Blockbuster+undercuts+DVD+rivals/2100-1026_3-5500813.html?tag=nefd.top

Blockbuster on Wednesday cut the price for its online DVD rental service, undercutting its rivals in an escalating battle for customers.

Blockbuster, the largest U.S. video rental chain, said it is cutting the subscription price for its online rental service by $2.50 to $14.99 a month plus tax effective immediately, guaranteed through January 2006.

The move came as Blockbuster grapples with growing competition from online rental services operated by Netflix and giant discounter Wal-Mart Stores.

Netflix charges $17.99 a month for online rental subscription, while Wal-Mart charges $17.36 per month, according to the companies' Web sites......

[HatchetMan]

Cool beans, I tried all the free trials - bb, netflix, walmart, and gameznflix - bb had the fastest turnaround times (I'm sure will greatly depend on where you live). Now they're cheapest so I'm headed over there to renew my membership. thx

[lordsmurf]

As a chain, Blockbuster is hurting.

http://www.fool.com/News/mft/2004/mft04110214.htm

(for those that do not know much about business and investing, Motley Fool is very old and very respected syndication of financial news and tips)

All this price dropping is what you call a financial panic. I'm sure they'll keep it up. They have to keep trying, even if it kills them in the process.

But at some point, the competitors are not going budge, as you lose money at some point in time. The competitors clearly have the upper hand here, BB is hoping to bring them down too, and I doubt that will ever happen.

The poor selection and years of dodgy practices (bad PR) is why they're still not able to really shake away subscribers to the competitors. It's unlikely that they'll make a dent in the Netflix subscriber base.

[BJ_M]

nice link - thanks lordsmurf

[maxpower2078]

I am not suprised at BB reaction, like lordsmurf said

As a chain, Blockbuster is hurting

I tried blockbuster for a couple of months, they were just too slow on turn around times for me, maybe after 6 more months they will have more shipping places, but even though I was sending my dvd back to the same city I lived in, it would still take forever to receive them, so I am not sure where they came from because it only took 1 day to send them back.

Anyways, I am with netflix currently and so far out of the 15 or so movies I have rented, all of them have been delivered overnight, so I can't complain with that. So it is worth the few extra bucks for me.

[handyguy]

More info:
Lower rates guaranteed through 2005!
As of Dec. 22, 2004*, pay only $14.99 a month plus applicable tax
to enjoy up to three DVDs out at a time. Sign up today with this
special offer and this price is guaranteed not to increase
through Jan. 31, 2006, as long as you keep your membership in
good standing.

o More movies!
Choose from more than 30,000 titles in our expanded DVD library.

o More shipping centers!
Get your movies faster! We've more than doubled the number of
shipping centers serving the country - 23 by the end of January -
with more to come!

o No in-store late fees!
Starting Jan. 1, 2005, you can redeem your monthly e-coupons for
FREE in-store game and movie rentals at participating BLOCKBUSTER
stores with no late fees**.

Also:
"revealed a net loss of a whopping $1.42 billion, or $7.84 per share, because of charges related to goodwill impairment."

Anyone know what that means: goodwill impairment ?

[tekkieman]

Anyone know what that means: goodwill impairment ?

Crappy customer service?

[dvdashot]

Appraisal Economics defines Goodwill Impairment as such:
"Goodwill impairment is defined as the difference between the book value of goodwill and the implied fair value of goodwill. Unlike other assets, goodwill cannot be defined as a stand-alone asset and must be valued as a residual of all other assets. Therefore, the estimation of goodwill impairment is not as simple as measuring the difference between market capitalization and net book value. There is a greater emphasis on asset valuation. Therefore, it is critical for any goodwill impairment analysis that the valuation firm has a thorough knowledge of tangible and intangible asset valuation methodology, and purchase price allocation."

As I understand it (if I do ), a financial impairment deemed as goodwill is what the company believes to be recoverable assets.

[winifreid]

I discontinued my subscription after 6 weeks because of very slow turnaround and several unplayable disks. I also do not like their website. When I searched by actor, all their films came up, not just the ones for rent. Also, since I use tab browsing, I could not right click on a link and have it come up in a seperate tab. Finnally, Netflix has a much better selection.

[BSR]

As a chain, Blockbuster is hurting.

I'm not surprised. In my area, they are by far the most expensive place to rent a movie from. And their return policy of by noon on the return day sucks also.
If you don't adjust to the competition around you depending on the area, then don't expect a reliable clientel.

[ROBERT BLACK]

The poor selection and years of dodgy practices (bad PR) is why they're still not able to really shake away subscribers to the competitors. It's unlikely that they'll make a dent in the Netflix subscriber base.

I'm sure somewhere down the line they'll blame P2P. It's too easy a target ,and it deflects(in theory, we know better) criticism of it's own business practices.

[BJ_M]

wonder when this will filter down to Canada -- I asked here about the 'new' rental policy and they say here , maybe in march ..

phhfftt

[canadateck]

wonder when this will filter down to Canada -- I asked here about the 'new' rental policy and they say here , maybe in march ..

phhfftt

They told me Jan 1.

[LLoyder]

interesting, I'm not a big fan of Blockbuster but i'm not a big fan of Netflix and their delay tactics either. They keep undercutting the competition, I think they'll do quite well at $14.99 a piece and they will hurt netflix to some extent. Would be crazy if netflix came down with their prices again as it wasn't that long ago they were unsuccessful with their increased pricing. This is gonna be fun to watch.

[stiltman]

No more late fees for their brick and mortor stores starting Jan 1st

[ForeighFilmlover]

I think BBV would benefit from uniting with Say, Columbia House, or Alliance Entertainment Corp(AEC). once Amazon comes on board, the competition will really be tough for BBV. Amazon will be able to offer a lot of hard to find items. as it is now BBV are very limited on hard to find items and foreign Films

[handyguy]

Yeah, right, they just make you BUY it.

[ForeighFilmlover]

Maybe not, Walmart made their entire video library avaiable once they started the online dvd rental, I am sure if Amazon don't follow, they will hear from their subscribers.

[BobV]

god i love price wars

[lordsmurf]

Maybe not, Walmart made their entire video library avaiable once they started the online dvd rental, I am sure if Amazon don't follow, they will hear from their subscribers.

They LISTED all of it, but as soon as you added items to your queue, it was liable to be removed from your queue and inventory, as they really did not have them.

WALMART SUCKS.

[ForeighFilmlover]

I guess it depends on your geographical location, I have a friend in texas, who swear Walmart is the best, I on the other hand just cancelled my walmart subscription I'm Located 3 minutes from Fort lauderdale, I got tired of waiting 6 days to received a movie and waiting 6 days for them to show received. I recently joined GreenCine, they are located in San Francisco, with only 1 distribution center ( In San Francisco) they fared better than walmart, it took 4 days to receive my first order. I just dropped them at the post office this morning, considering this is the busiest week for snail mail, lets see how long it take for them to show recieved.

[HatchetMan]

I guess it depends on your geographical location, I have a friend in texas, who swear Walmart is the best, I on the other hand just cancelled my walmart subscription I'm Located 3 minutes from Fort lauderdale, I got tired of waiting 6 days to received a movie and waiting 6 days for them to show received. I recently joined GreenCine, they are located in San Francisco, with only 1 distribution center ( In San Francisco) they fared better than walmart, it took 4 days to receive my first order. I just dropped them at the post office this morning, considering this is the busiest week for snail mail, lets see how long it take for them to show recieved.

GreenCine, very tempting, do they by any chance have a free trial?

[ForeighFilmlover]

Unfortunately they do not, I got introduced to this online company because I was looking for some particular Asian films and thought i would gice it a try. there is Nicheflix offering 2 weeks free rental with 1 month paid subscription, they are located in Indiana

[HatchetMan]

Nicheflix, 6 weeks for the price of 4, maybe not, thanks anyway.

[ForeighFilmlover]

There's Cleanfilms.com http://www.cleanfilms.com/join.phtml wich offers a trial period of 15 days, the downfall, only 2 at a time, and the films are edited. probably not what you are looking for

[HatchetMan]

Nicheflix did have a good selection of multi region NTSC and PAL discs, like 3 different versions of Cannibal Holocaust (I already have 2 of them). One of these days I'll have to give it a try, I'm sure they have every John Woo and Chow Yun Fat movie ever made.

[ForeighFilmlover]

If you like ASIAN, there's also CinFlix http://www.cinflix.com, Just an off the wall question, I am looking for some martial arts films from 1977 and prior, these are the films with women stars, with grandmothers flying all over the place fighting off arrows with an umbrella or a wooden fan. etc etc.

[mrbass]

here's my little guide on dvd rentals(contains no referral links) like most guides on the net trying to get you to sign up to netflix, gameznflix crap, etc.
http://mrbass.org/dvdrentals/

Personally I've quit netflix 3 or 4 times. Last time was I waited 3 months trying to get new releases and resorted to having my co-worker who was a 'new' netflix member easily get them for me so I could watch 'em.

[ForeighFilmlover]

I just cancelled my netflix yesterday, they got ridiculous and started sending my movies after 5 days, and it is not because it is the busiest days of snail mail, the started this about 6 weeks ago. but they always resorted to sending the movies next day 1 week prior to my next billing date. I probable will not go back to netflix for a long while. I will give Blockbuster a try.

[sullen]

Something else interesting is that at some Blockbusters, maybe all, they are "price matching" Hollywood Video. For ages Hollywood Video has had their used DVDs 3 for $25. Just the other day I saw at a local Blockbuster that they were selling used movies 3 for $25 "for a limited time."