It's no secret that the movie lovers of the world are
leaning more and more towards that instantly gratifying digital download option, and judging by Q4 numbers, we'd say Netflix has done
a better job at exploiting that demand than rival
Blockbuster. In a move we're honestly thrilled to see happen, the latter firm is apparently waking up and attempting to play catch-up. Here in the past week Blockbuster has hired on former Philips executive Kevin Lewis as Senior Vice President of Digital Entertainment, a spot that'll be responsible for "strengthening commitment to multi-channel entertainment delivery." Additionally, Robert Barr was selected as VP to Blockbuster.com, a move that signals the company's seriousness about getting its online division formidable. As easy as it is to kick the guy that's already down, no consumer in their right mind wants Netflix running this show solo -- there's a word for that type of situation, and it ain't good for your wallet.
[Image courtesy of
Manda Mia]
Read - Kevin Lewis hire
Read - Robert Barr hire
posted Jan 30th 2009 12:43AM
Dear Blockbuster,
Do it cheaper than Netflix or go away.
-the consumer
They should talk to Sony to borrow some money since the green from the Blu-ray exclusivity from format war ran out :) With Blu-ray growing super fast I wonder why they are going digital distribution route. Aren't they suppose to be making a killing with Blu-ray? That's what they said right?
What a shocker that digital downloads model is turning to be a wise solution for everyone :) I think Sony should return the favor and sign exclusivity with them for PS3, though that might be tougher since Sony is pushing downloads too.
Personally, I think they are way too late for the party.
A wise solution for "everyone"?
When are you fans of (poor quality) digital downloads going to get into your heads that a) a lot of people do not have the bandwidth to do digital downloads and will not have it for a looong time to come and b) a lot of people do not want do do digital downloads, they want a proper physical copy in a box.
Stop talking for "everyone".
Also your harping about how bad BD is doing is rather worn out now. It's doing quite okay (especially worldwide) given the state of the global economy.
Okay.. 1-2% of DVD worldwide is alright? LOL.. give me what you're smoking.
And have you even read the news? Q4 2008 netflix grew 45% alone. Do you have any idea what that means? Everyone likes convenience. I am not satisfied with the quality either when compared to BD and prefer watching Blu-ray currently but with mainstream comes quality. It's only a matter of time when the quality will match Blu-ray but without inefficiencies optical media offers in general (and I also mean DVD too in there) . The better the infrastructure and more money that goes into technology and these delivery methods the better and faster adoption and quality will be.
It's the same principle that some are saying about Blu-ray, only digital are growing unprecedented speed much more rapidly.
Facts are that BD is doing better in both Europe and Japan than in the states. 1-2% is a pure lie.Facts are that BD is doing better than DVD did at the same time after the introduction (and DVD didn't have to fight the same kind of format war).
Netflix is in the states only.One day everyone might have the bandwidth to support it but that is far far away. As I said, I live close to a major international city and I get 5 MBps at best and it will be many year before that changes.
Also, as I said, many people want their physical box.
Bottom line, digital downloads are far from better for "everyone".
I don't think Sony's in any position to pay Blockbuster to do anything. Sony's suffering its worst losses in history, and the fundamentals don't look good. The last time Sony had losses anything close to what we're seeing now was when their studio business flopped, but the electronics business has always been much larger and therefore the studios could never really kill it.
This time it's serious.
As far as BB goes, they need to weak their pricing model a little, but their digital downloads service is pretty close to being perfect. What's needed is:
1. More HD.
2. Surround sound. For the love of ---- why do many of the DD services forget this?
3. Some or all content for a flat rate rather than pay-per-view.
The fact it's based on downloads rather than streaming gives it a head-start against services like Netflix's. It also has the advantage over Netflix that it offers recent releases.
It doesn't take a lot of tweaking to get this to work, but it does need some.
I don't see why Blockbuster doesn't just buyout Vudu. Problem solved.
Bozster, you fail to mention that a large chuck of the success of netflix last quarter was from the blu ray folks who spent $1 more for their blu ray fix. They were only expecting 500 thousand but got 700 thousand. Blu Ray is also expected to gain faster between now and 2012, increases will be more than streaming. Sorry thats just they way it will be here in reality.
Im not seeing a massive pubic move to streaming. The average joe isnt saying I just gotta stream those movies, I hate those discs. NOT HAPPENING.
Also in the future, why wouldnt disc and stream coexist? Movie theaters, Cable, Satellite, VOD, PPV have all existed side by side for years, dont expect this to change.
Owen, did you check your math on that? $1x700,000x3months = $2.1 million which is 4.7%. That's a notable amount of revenue, but not really a large chunk. The group think that's predicting the $1 surcharge for unlimited streaming WILL happen and probably before the end of the year. That will probably add a nice amount of revenue too.
Just like in CD to MP3 didn't happen overnight, DVD to streaming/downloads isn't going to happen in a single quarter either. Downloading and streaming isn't a foreign now as it was ten years ago, so it will happen faster for video than it did for music. Physical will still be there to deliver the highest quality, but downloads aren't going away unless the internet does.
WebDev511, "CD to MP3 didn't happen overnigth". Well CD to MP3 hasn't happen att all yet if by that you mean that MP3 would have replaced CD's. I'm sure you do not but anyway...
CD's are still doing quite well. And why shouldn;t they? MP3 is generally of poor quality compared to CD's. Many AV recievers now include features to compensate for the deficiencies of MP3 material after all A lot of people still want CD's for various reasons (quality, preference to physical media etc.).
Same thing will (hopefully) happen with BD versus digital streaming. They will live side by side. BD will always offer better quality than digital streaming as you correctly state.
Given that there is already a debate about throttling of bandwidth, Internet being close to saturation, having to pay for getting preferred treatment bandwidth-wise etc. I can just imagine when digital downloads catches on. I certainly prefer to to get my BD and not having to depend on whether my provider decides to lower the quality because there happens to be "too many" people requesting to download at the same time.
Altough I favour BD I have nothing really against streaming and downloads but I just get so annoyed about these posts from people that want digital downloads (it's for them to decide what they want) but at the same time just have to make statement like it;s "better for everyone", it has the "same quality as BD" (or will be in a "few" years time) and take quick nonsense stabs at BD (or any form of physical media) at the same time.
Like Subscription Rentals with Netflix,
ZunePass is what finally killed the CD for me (as in I don't butthem anymore)
If the systems with netflix/BB download capabilities are easier to negotiate than updating firmware and dealing with buggy BR discs, then HD downloads will be the hands down winner with the average consumer.
So far with my BR lappy (hdx 16 w/ 1080p and tv tuner) I've gone through both as well as the annoying monitor setup to comply with the HDCP rules. Most average consumers would return a disc player if they knew they had to hook it up to the internet every few months or jump through hoops to get their laptop setup just so in order to display movies on their HDTV.
I predict a new pricing model for Netflix and company, where you fork over an extra buck or so a month to download the same movie that's coming in the mail. Then if the physical disc is jacked up, you have a backup. It could also work in Netflix's favor, letting you compare the two more easily.
I imagine you being the guy in the infomercial having trouble pouring milk. Do you constantly just throw your hands up every time you have to put gas in your car?
You should have bought a PS3 or a standalone BR player if you have that much trouble updating the firmware and connecting it to your TV.
LOL considering how many firmware updates both standalone players and PS3 have and the hoops you have to go through, I don't think he would be in any better shape. I'd say maybe even worse.
If BB offers their digital downloads in their pricing models like Netflix I'll switch back to them. Until then I'll stick to the option of having TV shows, documentary's and old movies to watch from my laptop or large LCDs.
I'd say even having Netflix and instant watch I'll goto Blockbuster every once in awhile to rent a blu-ray. If I'm going to watch a film that I know is going to look great on blu-ray I'll spend the extra $5 to rent one from a store. Having instant watch is for the convenience of not leaving the home. When bandwidth get to the average of 20mbits in high populated cities I'd like to see digital downloads be released in 1080p w/ 192kHz audio
I don't understand why pay channels like HBO aren't teaming up with netflix or other providers. They should treat netflix like they do cable TV providers. Charge per subscriber and give them full access to HBOs VOD library via netflix. I'd rather pay netflix an HBO subscription than my cable company.
BB needs to call my cable provider and tell them not to shut me off after I do all this nifty downloading. The number is 1-800-COMCAST.
If you actually used it you would understand that I am yet to hear from anyone having issues with caps. I download all over the place (XBL, Vudu, PSN, iTunes) in addition to optical and have not had a single issue and i download gigabytes and gigabytes of data and I'm on Cox.
It's inexcusable for cable operators to even do throttling or caps but this will change soon enough. Industry and money involved that is growing with downloads will force cable companies to simply increase speeds and services. It has happened over the past few years and it's going to happen in the future. The only reason they are doing caps is because they want to stretch the time needed for expansion to accommodate user requirements on their own terms.
BB following Netflix's business model again? that's a shocker....
Their in-store blu-ray selection is pretty weak.
Blu-ray's better for buying, downloading's better for renting. Hopefully someone will tell BB go subscription over pay per movie. I also hope more Blu-rayand dvd movies come with digital copy. Makes things easier.
dig the choice.... Doctor Who Second Season (5 Discs): Disc 4. Great choice.