http://www.reuters.com/news_company....er=companynews

This is very bad IMHO.

Just look at the following quote:


They will probably only stock 4:3 TVs so that their "customers" can make sure that all of the screen is filled. Perish the thought that they rent a fullscreen DVD that results in bars on the side of the TV.

Good point.

Ive considered making stickers and placing them on Pan and Scan movies in Blockbuster that say something like this:

"Warning: This DVD has been edited using the Pan and Scan process and does not contain the full image of the movie. Only movies presented in their Original Aspect Ratio such as a Widescreen DVD preserve the theater experience and are not edited."

Probably could be shorter and more succint...

Anyone else want to start putting stickers on DVDs at stores???

I wonder how it will work out for them. A few years ago BB and Radio Shack had formed a partnership where ever BB was going to have a Radio Shack in it. As far as I'm aware the test stores they tried the idea with failed miserably.

Now what are they going to do, waste even more floor space with display TV's that will be overpriced?

I like the sticker idea!!!! Make sure that it says "This version does not contain the whole movie." Since the un-informed think that the black bars chop off the top and bottom.

This really does not surprise me. BBV started selling DirecTV, which I thought was the dumbest thing in the world. You are in the business of renting tapes, why offer your customers more reasons to stay home? Then it occurred to me . . .

BBV is starting to fail miserably in the home video rental business. Their own business model has started to consume them (as I long predicted it would). They sink too much capitol into tapes that cannot provide an adequate ROI (return on investment) due to the short shelf life that BBV initiated through copy-depth.

So, with your primary lines of income failing, you start turning to other lines of income. BBV rcently had it's company valued by breaking in to three "divisions." Their information base (YOUR name, address, and home phone number) is worth more than all of their technology, real estate, and physical property added together.

Is BBV going to disappear? Not likely. But they are starting to crumble. Their power is starting to fail, and they need to re-define their identity. Will this open the door for a new entity to enter the home video industry? An entity that actually cares about it's customers and their wants and desires? Do I hear any investors speaking up? 'Cause I'm ready to kick their @ss!

So when they demo their HDTVs, are they going to use one of their full screen rentals?

After some thought as this doesn't directly unvolve a discussion about DVD software, per say, but more about Blockbuster changing a part of their business model, I'm moving this discussion to the Store Forum.

- C

ROTFL!

"And no more black bars on the top and bottom of your TV. What? Black bars on the sides? Well, uh, my manager says that those are to make sure that your picture is centered properly. Oh, no, those bars cut off the top and bottom of the picture, these are to, uh, help you make sure that you have the proper contrast in your picture by allowing you to constantly check the black on the sides."

I hope they do it, fail miserably and fade out of all of our lives. Mom-and-Pop rental stores will benefit, the studios will benefit (by getting rid of BB once and for all), and I think most of us would benefit by not having to read all these BB horror stories.

None of this will come true, though. Blockbuster would find a way of succeeding.

This paragraph got me:

Riiiiiiight. They are just selling home electronics for fun.

No, not fun. For the benefit of their customers. I can't even type that with a straight face!

Can just see the customers now...

"I just came in to rent one of the regular movies, VHS is what they call it I guess. Anyways, they had the se pretty TVs there, showing those new movies on CDs, DVDs I think they are called. Well that picture was so good, the nice youngster behind the counter said I could have a TV just like the one they had right there in the store, complete with a VCR for the movie CDs, for a few thousand dollars. Seeing as how I came in willing to spend $5, it seemed like a bit of a stretch. But they youngster persuaded me, saying how I could watch all my regular movies as well on it. I was sold!"

SirPablo -- exactly what I was thinking. How could this possibly work?

99.99% of people in Blockbuster are there to spend $4-10 and rent a few movies. Occasionally, an impluse buy like a $19.99 kids video or a bag of popcorn may make it's way into the order... but a big-screen TV set? Huh?

Also, did they ever consider that the DVD players sold "beyond expectations" because of the cheap ($99) price tag? How are you going to get big-screen TVs down to that level? There is just no way this will work unless Blockbuster changes its entire business model and -- more difficult -- changes the public's perception of the chain.

I hate to say this - but if they wanted to - Blockbuster could have better prices than anyone due to their buying strength.

But Big Screen TV's may be a bit much.. they take up lots of space, etc.

I think they should push some high quality sub $100 DVD players.

I feel sorry for the BB employee who will have to haul a big screen over and around the counter so it doesn't set off the security alarm.

I wonder if they’ll rent big screen TVs. Imagine the late fees on those!

Are you sure? I always liked going to rent a dvd new release for 1 night costing me 5.50$ (this is in Canada mind you).

Really??? And I enjoy being beaten with a rubber hose.

Seriously, I could not see how BBV could get cheaper prices with it's "buying power". You don't think that Best Buy has a much greater weight when it comes to consumer electronics? Sure, BBV has it's clout when it comes to videos and DVDs, but it's a baby when it comes to the big ticket merchandise (oh big deal, so they sold some sub $100 DVD players. GROCERY STORES also do that, does that mean that I should buy a TV when I go to buy a loaf of bread and a gallon of milk?).

all right!!! now i might actually have to go into a BB for the first time in a long while and laugh at their prices and tell everyone in the store that they are being robbed blind. on second thought, if they aren't smart enough to figure that out before they plunk down $4.50 for a P&S chopped movie then they deserve what they get.

Actually there have been several threads on how BlockBuster is losing their demand power with suppliers (somewhat evident by the lack of sell through pricing on DVD's). Blockbuster in its prime basically flexed its muscle with the distributors (movie studios, etc) of pre recorded VHS and caused the prices to be extremely high during the initial period after a movie released, so that rentals would be attractive. This basically did not occur with DVD, and is even going away, on at least big release VHS (Shrek, and others that came out recently on VHS were priced with normal selling prices upon release on both DVD & VHS)

Best Buy is currently one of the strongest retailers in the nation. Not just for electronics but retailers in general. I'm not much of a fan of either BlockBuster or Best Buy, but I doubt Blockbuster will be able to compete with Best Buy on large electronic items. On the other hand Best Buy is doing very well against BlockBuster in new DVD sales.

If I buy a TV at Blockbuster, will it not allow me to watch porn on it?

You won't even be able to watch the unrated version of American Pie, much less porn.

Hard to say...if you bought the TV at a Corporate store, you can guarantee that if it does play porn, that the identical TV bought at a Franchise store wouldnt. Thats simple logic (BBV style). In fact, if you ask an employee at a Franchise store if the TV would play porn, they would rudely tell you while rolling their eyes that "we arent a Corporate store, of course it doesnt play porn...are you stupid or something ?".

Oh the joy of having a Hollywood video store close by.....