last100 » Blockbuster

Blockbuster VOD service to land on Motorola handsets sometime in the future

Steve O'Hear — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 13:54:46 +0000

This one feels a lot like a non-announcement, although technically it’s actually a pre-announcement.

Bricks ‘n’ mortar video rental chain Blockbuster is teaming up with Motorola in the U.S. to deliver its video-on-demand service to the handset maker’s future devices. Future being the operative word here as we don’t yet know when or on what phones, although it’s likely that the service will utilize Blockbuster’s recent partnership with Sonic Solutions, owners of the video download store CinemaNow, whose technology is already compatible with a range of mobile devices.

The fact that both Blockbuster and Motorola aren’t in the best of shape with regards to their respective markets won’t been lost on many, with Gizmodo’s Joanna Stern summing it up nicely: “I think it is romantic when two companies can hold each other in tough times.” Tough times indeed, although I’m skeptical that this partnership will do much for either companies’ bottom line.

---
Related Articles at last100:

Dan Rayburn: 10 years on Blockbuster still lacks a digital strategy

Steve O'Hear — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:48:15 +0000

Bricks and mortar video rental chain Blockbuster were a decade ahead of the competition in terms of the move from physical media to digital. That lead, however, “never materialized into any real online video strategy over the next ten years”, writes industry veteran and EVP of StreamingMedia.com, Dan Rayburn.

“Without a doubt, Blockbuster should have been in the position Netflix is in today as they were the first movers in the market.”

Rayburn then goes on to paint Blockbuster as a digital headless chicken.

We’ve seen Blockbuster do wacky things like create in-store kiosks for downloads and their executives have never had a clear strategy for how they plan to take their video business into the digital era. While some might suggest that Blockbuster did have a strategy when they acquired Movielink in August of 2007, the company bought an outdated platform that has yet to be improved upon. The fact that two years after the Movielink acquisition Blockbuster still can’t support Mac users with their video on demand offering shows they are still relying on Movielink’s outdated technology for their digital media strategy.

Blockbuster is not thought of as a company that has any strategy for digital media and every year, seems to come up with some sort of new idea, like kiosks, only to them change their mind a year later. I’ve never met, talk to or read an interview with any executive from Blockbuster that makes any clear case as to why anyone should think of Blockbuster as a digital media company.

Blockbuster’s management talks a good digital game but it’s nothing more than “marketing fluff”, often confusing the company’s dominance in physical media with that of digital, says Rayburn.

As an example he picks over an interview with Kevin Lewis, Blockbuster’s new SVP of digital entertainment, conducted by Cnet. Kevin is quoted as saying, “We are the only entertainment retailer with the ability to serve you a movie where you want, when you want it, how you want”, backed up on part by the recently struck partnership with TiVo.

The problem, says Rayburn, is that TiVo’s living room penetration is nothing to write home about.

“TiVo only has 1.6M stand alone DVRs in the market and Microsoft and Sony combined have sold well over 20M consoles in North America. I love my TiVo, but for Blockbuster to act like having a deal with TiVo is such a big deal, they need to think again”, writes Rayburn.

To that end, “Blockbuster’s service is not available on any gaming console, which is the number one selling device in the home for the playback of digital movies, outside of the PC.” Rayburn also points out that the company’s underwhelming and late to the game set-top box isn’t even being promoted on Blockbuster’s homepage.

In conclusion, he writes:

Sadly, I don’t think Blockbuster will ever be a leader in the digital media arena. While I don’t think it’s too late in the market, they simply don’t have the mentality or the foresight that they showed ten years ago. And while online video movie industry is still in its infancy, if and when Blockbuster gets their act together, I think the opportunity will have already passed them by.

For the full post, head over to StreamingMedia’s blog.

---
Related Articles at last100:

Playing catch up, Blockbuster partners with CinemaNow

Steve O'Hear — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:15:53 +0000

If you can’t compete then partner

In a bid to play catch up with the likes of Apple, Netflix, Sony and Microsoft, video rental chain Blockbuster has signed a strategic partnership with Sonic Solutions, owners of the video download store CinemaNow. The move is designed to accelerate the company’s move into online video by pooling the two companies’ digital movie libraries, as well as tapping into CinemaNow’s existing ecosystem of supported devices, which includes portable media players, Blu-ray Disc players, personal video recorders (PVRs), set-top boxes, mobile phones and Web-connected television sets.

Blockbuster’s branding will replace CinemaNow’s, while Sonic Solutions’ technology will power the combined offering.

Jim Keyes, Blockbuster Chairman and CEO: “Blockbuster is a ubiquitous entertainment presence in the physical world. Through this alliance with Sonic, we plan to become a ubiquitous presence in the digital world as well. Our goal is to offer consumers the most digital content, the most accessibility, via the most devices, both in- and out of home.”

Of course, Blockbuster’s video download plans were already underway after the company acquired Movielink, a previous joint venture between Hollywood studios Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros. and MGM. That was back in August 07, and it took a further fifteen months before the re-branded Blockbuster OnDemand service finally got its own set-top box. With progress that slow, it’s no wonder the company feels the need for a new technology partner, and one with established relationships with consumer electronics companies. It’s in this area where competitor Netflix has made rapid progress over the past year by getting its Watch Instantly video streaming service onto Microsoft’s XBox 360 games console, Internet set-top boxes, Blu-ray players and Internet-connected TVs.

Dave Habiger, president and CEO, Sonic Solutions: “With more and more broadband-enabled consumer electronics hitting the market, there is a growing need for a service that gives consumers access to premium entertainment on any device, anytime and anywhere… By pairing Sonic’s digital delivery technology with Blockbuster’s trusted brand and library of content, we enable any CE manufacturer to add an impressive digital movie service to its product offerings and in doing so, create the most flexible digital entertainment service for consumers.”

---
Related Articles at last100:

Video: Blockbuster’s set-top box in action

Steve O'Hear — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 19:26:40 +0000

The newly launched HackingBlockbuster has published a short video walk-through of the Blockbuster set-top box in action (see our pevious coverage). One shortcoming mentioned in HackingBlockbuster’s accompanying review is the scalability of the set-top box’s UI for finding and renting movies. Unlike the Netflix approach, which enables titles to be selected via the company’s website, everything is done on the MediaPoint box itself. As a result, HackingBlockbuster suggests that “it will be difficult to find movies when there are 10,000 or more titles available… It would be nice if MediaPoint titles showed up in your Blockbuster Online Queue”.

View the video walk-through below…

(via ZatzNotFunny)

---
Related Articles at last100:

Finally, Blockbuster’s Internet set-top box unveiled

Steve O'Hear — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 14:00:33 +0000

We knew it was coming. First, video rental chain Blockbuster purchased the movie download service MovieLink — originally a joint venture between Hollywood studios Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros. and MGM — and then the company, through a series of leaks to the press, began hinting at related plans to release a set-top box. A few denials later, followed by an outright confirmation, and today the company best known for its bricks and mortar stores finally unveiled the hardware itself.

Here’s what we know about the new Blockbuster Internet set-top box and accompanying On Demand service:

The box isn’t made by Blockbuster or even really branded as such (aside from the User Interface – see screen shots below). Instead, the device, dubbed the MediaPoint digital media player, is made by San Jose-based 2Wire.
It will retail for $99, although there is a special launch offer whereby the first 25 movie rentals are included in the price, a model that I recently suggested competitor Vudu should adopt.
Rentals start from $1.99 but for most movies will be priced at $3.99.
Each rental downloaded has a 30 day viewing window, reduced to 24 hours once you hit play.
The MediaPoint player supports both WiFi and Ethernet, has 8GB of storage (enough for around 5 movies), and features both composite and HDMI connections.
The MediaPoint hardware is capable of displaying HD content, though most of Blockbuster’s initial On Demand offering, around 2,000 titles, will be Standard Definition.

Here’s what we don’t yet know for sure:

How long the launch offer will last — without the 25 movie rental credit, the $99 box feels a lot less like an impulse buy and will have a much harder time competing in a crowded space that includes the Apple TV, Sony PS3, Netflix, Vudu and Microsoft XBox 360. Not to mention telcos with their own on-demand services.
In NewTeeVee’s previous coverage of 2Wire’s MediaPoint offering, there’s mention of additional functionality, including support for other Internet video and the ability to stream content from a PC — photos, music and video — on the same home network via UPnP and DLNA support (see our guide to all things DLNA). However, the user manual for the Blockbuster-branded version of the player, makes no reference to such functionality.
Is the $1.99 starting point for rentals, TV shows only?

---
Related Articles at last100:

Catching up with Time Warner Cable, Blockbuster, TiVo, iTunes UK, and Netflix

Daniel Langendorf — Sat, 31 May 2008 05:30:50 +0000

Another day, another set-top box.

This one comes courtesy of Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt, who told those at the Stanford C. Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference in New York that the company planned to market equipment to its subscribers to make it easier for them to watch Internet video on their televisions.

Naturally, Britt offered few details, other than to say:

“Right now it’s pretty hard to get Internet stuff on your TV,” Britt said [via Reuters]. “We’re actually going to have equipment we make available to subscribers. It’s actually going to be a new wireless cable modem that will allow you to network everything in your house.”

Naturally, Britt didn’t elaborate or say when the set-top box would be available to subscribers.

“Within a relatively short time . . . it’s going to be very easy to get Internet TV on your big screen TV.”

OK. So Time Warner is throwing its hat into the ring with the likes of Apple and the AppleTV, TiVo, Netflix/Roku, Vudu, Microsoft, Sony, the cable companies, and seemingly hundreds more. As long as we’re watching the vendor sports between these players, we might as well throw Time Warner’s set-top box scheme into the mix.

Catching Up

After the break, a few stories of interest from the just-concluding week.

Blockbuster kiosks

Blockbuster is hoping that all the Archos digital media player owners in your area will drive to their local stores to download movies from in-store kiosks. In time, the kiosks will be an “open system” compatible with a range of devices.

Say what?

Amazon, Microsoft’s Xbox Live, and Netflix already deliver movies directly to computers; TiVo, Vudu, AppleTV, and cable and satellite services offer video-on-demand to TVs, so what makes Blockbuster think that people will want to drive to their local Blockbusters — when gas is more than $4 a gallon — to download movies from an airport-like kiosk?

But, hey, Blockbuster Chairman and CEO James Keys insists that the company is “well ahead of broad consumer demand for such services.” [via Crave]

Whatever.

Two thumbs up!

Here’s an idea that caught my eye and I kind of like, although its implementation is far from perfect at the moment.

TiVo is partnering with the Chicago Tribune to allow subscribers to automatically record the recommendations of TV critic Maureen Ryan. For the moment, the service is mostly proof-of-concept and available to about 100,000 subscribers in the Chicago area.

What I like about the idea is more from the newspaper side than TiVo. It’s a great extension of newspaper content that’s not just using the Internet. Imagine the major metro paper in your area supplying content from its TV, movie, and pop culture critics right where you consume it.

Best of all, you don’t get ink on your fingers.

Hollywood, iTunes in the U.K.

Let’s face it. We want movie downloads to cost much less than DVDs. After all, we don’t get the packing and extra content, so why should we pay nearly the same for the bytes that we do for the bits?

Apple is set to announce that films from four major Hollywood studios will be available for download in the U.K. at prices that are on par with DVDs — £6 to £25. [via TimesOnline] Many of our friends overseas seem to think this is a bit pricey.

But what do you expect from Disney, Paramount, Twentieth Century Fox, and Warner Bros., the studios supplying content to iTunes for digital download in the U.K.? Doesn’t matter which country they operate in; they still want the big bucks.

What is nice, though, is that this will be the first time that Hollywood films have been available to our British friends — and our buddies in Canada — in such a manner.

Pointing to the future

Most of the stories this week continue to point to a time when digital distribution becomes dominant, whether the content comes from a kiosk like the Blockbuster idea, a set-top box like Warners or Netflix/Roku, Amazon’s streaming service, or no set-top box at all.

Reed Hastings, the CEO of Netflix, thinks that time will come within five years, when the company’s signature DVD-by-mail business model will peak, officially ushering in the era of digital distribution. [via Reuters]

---
Related Articles at last100:

Report: Blockbuster in talks to join Hollywood Video-On-Demand joint venture

Steve O'Hear — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:51:48 +0000

“We’re exploring our options, so it’s not surprising there are rumors out there”, says a Blockbuster spokeswoman.

The latest rumor, as reported by the Wall Street Journal, is that the company best known for its ‘bricks and mortar’ video rental business wants to join the recently announced Hollywood joint venture, led by Viacom, to create a new premium TV channel and Video-On-Demand (VOD) service. The other existing partners are Paramount, MGM and Lionsgate.

In return for investing, Blockbuster would get digital rights to the new channel’s programming, “people familiar with the situation” told the WSJ.

Blockbuster is an obvious possible partner. It used to be owned by Viacom, whose executives know its business well. Blockbuster also has been casting its net wide for new partners as it attempts to spruce up its video-rental business model with new digital ventures. Last year, it acquired Internet movie provider Movielink to offer video-download services to customers, and it has focused on forging exclusive content deals for its various services.

Ironically, the Viacom-led joint venture is already being compared negatively to the original Movielink service, which started life in 2002 as a joint venture between Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros. and MGM, but failed to resonate with users. Last August Movielink was acquired by Blockbuster.

---
Related Articles at last100:

Let’s hope Sony gets it right this time: may launch movie/TV download service for PlayStation

Daniel Langendorf — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 05:29:39 +0000

Word that Sony may be again launching a movie and TV download service was met today with interest and a bit of much-deserved scoffing.

It’s not like Sony hasn’t tried this before. Remember Movielink? Thought so. (It was sold to Blockbuster, by the way.) Remember Sony Connect? It shut down in March.

Heck, since the monumental success of the Walkman ages ago — in an analog world far, far away — Sony has pretty much failed at every digital offering, minus the early PlayStations and some home theater equipment. The whole digital music thing passed Sony by as Apple took over the Walkman mantle with the iPod, iTunes, and the rest of its digital lifestyle ecosystem.

The Los Angeles Times today reported that Sony is again in talks with Hollywood muckety-mucks regarding a download service that would beam movies and television shows from the Internet to the PlayStation 3.

But because said muckety-mucks are hush-hush over the negotiations, not much else is known — no pricing or if the movies and TV shows are for rent or purchase. One tantalizing tidbit, however, is being floated about.

“Unlike closed networks such as Apple’s, Sony plans to embrace open standards that would make its offering compatible with a range of computers and hand-held devices, including the PlayStation Portable,” the LA Times notes.

Sony, a staunch proponent of digital rights management (remember the now-defunct ATRAC?), declined comment, but a post on the Inside PlayStation Network blog alludes to a possibly-changing mindset.

“While I don’t have any new announcements,” wrote Peter Dille, senior vice president of marketing for Sony Computer Entertainment America, Inc., “it’s already been confirmed that we’ll be offering a video service for PS3 in a way that separates the service from others you’ve seen or used.”

Those services are numerous — Microsoft’s Xbox Live marketplace, Apple TV, Vudu, Amazon’s Unbox, TiVo, and even rumored set-top box services from Netflix and Blockbuster. While online video sales pale in comparison with DVD sales ($95 million to $23.4 billion, respectively), analysts expect online video sales to be a fast-growing market with $6.4 billion in revenue by 2010.

For Sony to make any headway here, its movie/TV download service will have to go beyond the PS3 install base (four million in the U.S.) and the offerings from Microsoft, Apple, Vudu, Amazon, TiVo, and mostly likely Netflix and/or Blockbuster. It should take the game up a notch and create something new, like social networking through its virtual world Home where friends can watch a movie together in-world and group chat with their Home avatars.

Talk of supporting many devices is tantalizing and a great start, if it is indeed true. But Sony watchers all scoff at the notion the company can do it right, even with a third try.

Rafat Ali at paidContent.org wrote, “By now, I have lost count on the number of times Sony has started working for movie/video download services” and “Sony could as well be spelt ‘Silo.’”

And oft-quoted today is Richard Doherty, senior analyst at consultancy Envisioneering Group, “Sony has this blessing and curse of (having) some of the world’s smartest intellectual property lawyers, who’ve never built or marketed a product in their life.”

Ouch.

We only hope — in the spirit of true digital lifestyle innovation and competition — that Sony gets it right and gets back in the game where they belong.

PlayTV

---
Related Articles at last100:

Blockbuster to launch set-top box?

Steve O'Hear — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:27:21 +0000

AppleTV, Netflix on LG, Tivo, XBox 360, Vudu and now Blockbuster? …the list goes on.

The latest company thought to be readying its own Internet TV set-top box plans is Blockbuster, according to Hollywood Reporter. The new “set-top device for streaming films directly to TV sets” could be announced as early as this month, and would utilize the company’s recent acquisition of online movie service Movielink, giving users access to over 3,000 film titles from major Hollywood studios Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros. and MGM.

As Zatz Not Funny notes, while linking an online movie service to the television is what lots of consumers want, yet another set-top box probably isn’t. Instead, it would make much more sense for Blockbuster to partner with an existing hardware/online service player (or TV manufacturer?), rather than rolling out a device of their own. If they are in fact going solo, the box itself will need to be heavily subsidized if the new offering is to take off.

Blockbuster declined to comment but a spokesperson told Hollywood Reporter: “We’re talking to numerous companies and vendors about products, services, alliances and initiatives that can help us achieve our mission to transform Blockbuster into a company that provides access to media content across multiple channels — from our stores, by mail, through kiosks, through downloading, through portable content-enabled devices– so it’s not surprising that there are rumors out there.”

That’s hardly a denial.

---
Related Articles at last100: