tywebb1976

I was just at blockbuster, and according to them, they received communication that Signs broke street date nationally, and it was okay for them to sell early. They had 8 copies for 19.99 a piece. I went to my local Circuit City and Best Buy, but they hadn't heard anything about it yet.

jedidiah

Gee–I wonder who broke it first...

Drexl

I seriously doubt they are right when they say it is okay for them to sell it early.

Bob_Bobbson

Same story at my Blockbuster, except for they charged $21.99

Brak55

Looks like it might be time to price match for 14 or 15.99 once tomorrows paper comes.

Aaron Amos

First Wal-Mart does in the past with several big titles. now Blockbuster.What would happen if the studios got wind of this stuff happening and yanked away all the new DVD's from these stores?

dvde

They generally have to do it many times. The studios first warn them and go from there.

Drexl

People who work at these stores have told me that there is a $500 fine for breaking the street date. I don't know if this is per unit sold or just one fine for doing it at all regardless of the amount. Also, I don't know if they always get fined, or if it has to be reported. I would guess it has to be reported.

Usually, when stores put out stuff early, it is because one or more employees do not know it isn't supposed to be out. The difference here is we have a case of someone at a store who knows about the street date actually telling customers they have permission to put out product early. I doubt they have such permission, and he is telling them they do so nobody reports them.

calhoun07

Wal Mart broke it first. If anybody gets fined over it, they will, not the stores who put it out because Wal Mart broke prestreet.

dvd-fanman

Shame, shame, shame on Blockbuster. It is never "okay" to break a street date. Studios can set their own fines for breaking street dates. Some studios charge as little as $500 per unit sold as someone has said, but some studios go up to $1,000 or even $10,000 per unit sold.

dvd-fanman

There would be a lot of unhappy customers when the studios started shipping the DVDs to these retailers either ON release date so they wouldn't reach distribution warehouses until release date effectively not putting them in retail stores for a few days after release date, OR shipping to warehouses AFTER street date, effectively putting them in retail stores up to a week after the official release date.

All the stores have to do is play by the rules. It's not that hard. You can also believe that the studios have people checking on stores also.

calhoun07

Speaking of street dates, my local Best Buy NEVER gets in non ad items on the day they street. The only stuff they get out Tuesday are the main titles in their ad. In the past, they broke prestreet every week on DVDs not in their ad. Unless it was in their ad, if they got it in, they put it out early. I guess they are too stupid to use a computer and can only determine what comes out when by looking at their ad, and now the consumers are forced to suffer.

And perhaps this is why they don't get in Woody Allen movies any more? They got in the first wave, probably broke prestreet, got in trouble, and their right to carry it revoked? I know that happened with Robotech. They broke street on the first box set, and they got busted for it. They weren't allowed to carry Robotech until AFTER all 7 box sets were out. I know, because I am the one that contacted ADV and let them know about the breaking of the street date.

And if Wal Mart breaks pre street, Blockbuster has every right to follow suit. Street dates exist primarily (I am sure there are other reasons) to make the competitive nature between stores fair. If store X in town can get a title before store Y, store X should not be allowed to put the title out first before store Y. For the sake of being fair in the market, it only stands to reason to have street dates so stores can all have time to get the titles and put them out at the same time. If Wal Mart breaks date, everybody else has the right to put it out so they can remain competitive, but it will be the Wal Mart stores the studio looks at to fine in the end. The stores that followed their lead and broke street had every right to do so, even if you hate that store.

skywalker8

Gee, what a coincidence. Blockbuster breaks streetdate nationwide on a major title from Disney... just a few days after Disney sues them for $120 million.