Your Blockbuster movie download is just a drive away

In the opening scene of The Player, Tim Robbins' character is meeting with writers who are pitching movie ideas they hope the Hollywood producer will agree to make. One idea is pitched to him as, "It's Pretty Woman meets Out of Africa, without stars."

(Credit: Blockbuster)

Applying that Hollywood approach, the latest idea from Blockbuster can best be described as "Netflix meets YouTube, without the convenience." That's basically the pitch Blockbuster Chairman and CEO James Keyes made at his first annual shareholders meeting on Wednesday when he unveiled an in-store kiosk he hopes consumers will use to download movies.

The plan, as outlined by The Hollywood Reporter, is for consumers to bring portable devices into Blockbuster stores and download movies, usually in about two minutes. Blockbuster expects to begin testing the kiosks, which were produced by airline-kiosk maker NCR, in about three weeks. Initially, the system will work only with Archos devices, but Blockbuster expects the kiosk to be an "open system" that is compatible with a range of devices. Keyes declined to predict how many titles will be available on the kiosk, noting that Blockbuster was still in negotiations with the major studios for content.

I wasn't at the meeting, but I have to wonder if reporters giggled at this idea:

Keyes acknowledged that the kiosk pilot is likely coming well ahead of broad consumer demand for such services and should therefore only be seen as one additional distribution channel for the company as it tries to offer entertainment content whenever consumers want in whatever form they want.

"Well ahead of broad consumer demand for such services." Huh?

Talk about an innovative idea. Amazon.com, Microsoft's Xbox Live, and Netflix already deliver movies directly to PCs; TiVo, Vudu, and Apple TV, as well as cable and satellite services offer video on demand to TVs; and electronic copies of movies are being sold alongside DVDs. So what makes Keyes think people want to leave their homes to drive to a store with a laptop-size device to download movies from an ATM?

People don't want to make the trip to the video store. Convenience is why Netflix is kicking Blockbuster's butt. Blockbuster seemed to have a road map for getting back on top with its acquisition of movie download service Movielink in 2007, and its idea for a set-top box for streaming video seemed to show promise (Indeed, my colleague Greg Sandoval reports that Netflix sees video streaming eventually overtaking physical DVD rentals). But this is also the company that has been kicking around the idea of buying electronics retailer Circuit City for $1 billion.

I could see these kiosks appealing to airport travelers, but otherwise this strikes me as an expensive remake of a soda machine.

[yacahuma]

Blockbuster seems to be another microsoft , a company with no direction.

Listen blockbuster. I dont want to drive, next year gas will be at $6 a gallon. I was tired of going to your stores and never finding the movie I wanted. Subscribe to Netflix and never looked back. I have been using netfllix for more than 5 years. All I want now is movies stream directly to my home. Then Netflix will save the shipping and handling cost.

In fact, I cant wait for the day I can watch brand new movies on my home theater and not have to go to the cinema. I dont mind paying a premium and not having to watch all those stupid commercials.

[blueshore]

Actually, it might make sense, it's like the water refill concept: take a 5 gallon water bottle, take to the market and refill it. Catch is that you already have the content locally, so transfer rate is faster, and you might take 200 titles at once, paying only your annual rental once.

Some glitches are present on the plan, but it make sense.

[blueshore]

Actually, it might make sense, it's like the water refill concept: take a 5 gallon water bottle, take to the market and refill it. Catch is that you already have the content locally, so transfer rate is faster, and you might take 200 titles at once, paying only your annual rental once.

Some glitches are present on the plan, but it make sense.

[mrc77]

Blockbuster has always been a backwards company, and this move just signed their death sentence. I can't wait for Netlifx to hammer the last nail in Blockbuster's coffin.

[WJeansonne]

Can't wait til Netflix integrates with XBOX! It's coming. All you can eat for as little as $8.95 a month!! Here's the notice...

http://www.netflix.com/NetflixReadyDevices?tb=future&lnkctr=nfrdfuture2

[WJeansonne]

Oh, and here's why even Blu-Ray is DOA...

http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9953489-7.html?tag=nefd.top

[freemarket--2008]

Well. I paid good money for an HD set, I want HD content not low-grade downloads. I always get Netflix movies on Blu-Ray when available. Older TV series and movies will likely never be released in HD so downloading is fine for them.

[DouglasBubbletrousers]

How many Archos players are out there???

I wish Netfilx would 1) get their Watch Now service giong on Mac. I *might* re-subscribe if so. 2) That streaming thing to the Xbox would be killer. Im not paying $100 for that stand-alone box.

[pop wuping]

If they had these kiosks in places other than Blockbuster than it might sense. Especially since broadband penetration outside major markets in the US is still very low.

[Gormat07]

What the heck is Archos? Never heard of it till I read this article. Why would I want to drive to a store to download a movie, when I can download to my computer from the comfort of my home. What are they thinking, I truly hope this company goes away, so my sides dont hurt any more from laugh so hard at their misteps.

[mwwhitfield]

The only place this makes sense is at an airport where you have a captive audience with time to kill. Wireless networks are still not good enough (often b still) and the wireless data access plans are not fast enough either to download a full movie. Having kiosks throughout an airport is a viable plan, I think, but not in the store itself.

[TV James]

Guess they got tired of waiting for Apple. From Feb. 6, 2006....
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2006/pulpit_20060216_000884.html

[cephalis]

The small image delivered by online download services is a poor substitute for watching a film that completely fills the large screen of the HD television set in the living room. Peeking at a tiny movie image on your iPod or PDA is a total waste of time and resources in my opinion.

[SPasse]

Correct,

One of the other things that is kicking Blockbuster?s butt is the ?Red Box? movie kiosks that are typically located at a the entrances of Wal-Mart?s.

Where I live, these kiosks almost always have people standing in lines to use them.

[dbriere]

I think you might reconsider your thoughts here. You are saying this now in an era where there is unlimited bandwidth, but we're already seeing attempts to charge extra for more bandwidth use. Suppose that instead you had a harddrive in your car that was wi-fi equipped, and when you drove certain places you synched with it. This is happening passively and constantly. Might not see such a stupid idea if it happened at work every day, and home when you got home. So this is early yet, but I would not rule out such alternatives at face value. There's some merit in alternative distribution as the telcos start to ratchet up the costs of bandwidth.

[sloanNYC]

Mark Cuban had this idea like 3 years ago when he figured broad band connections wouldn't keep up with Hi Def video demands. That was the only way it would make any sense... and the marketplace has found that they can sell Hi Def video online already.

[Charbax]

The Archos displays DVD quality, even HD quality on your TV or HDTV using the TV-output docking station which Blockbuster will probably include with the $10 or $20 unlimited movies service.

The kiosk idea is 480mbit/s transfer speed and 100 terrabytes of movies, Try equalling that with current home broadband.

You'll make your "Wish List" from home using the Archos remote control (since the whole 80-thousand movies and TV shows catalog is always on the Archos interface) or you make your "Wish List" at Blockbuster.com or decide to let Blockbuster figure out a bunch of recommendations for you based on your previous movie ratings. This way, next time you go to Blockbuster or anyother place they will install this kiosk, be it 7eleven, McDonalds or at any supermarket, let your Archos sit on one of the several (perhaps 4) connectors per kiosk and it will automatically download 20 or 50 movies to your Archos in just about 10 minutes, without needing to click anything on the kiosks touchscreen and without having to pay anything upfront. Then depending on your Blockbuster Unlimited subscription plan, you eigther get unlimited free movie watching (perhaps $20) or you pay remotely using an SMS code or a remote click for each movie you want to watch (price per movie could be $1 or $2 with a $10 monthly subscription).

Of course this will also work with 720p and 1080p Blu-ray quality movies. Each kiosk has unlimited storage, since the storage is served through fiberoptical connection to Blockbuster's 100 terrabytes of movie storage. The only difference between downloading DVD quality or HD quality on your Archos using the kiosk is the amount of time it takes to let the file transfer. 30 seconds for DVD quality and 1 minute and a half for 720p quality.

Your Archos could have 40GB or 160GB, fill it up with 50-200 movies, take it home and watch all of this on your TV. This solution eliminates the DVD and Blu-ray. It does not exclude that if you want, if you have the available bandwidth, that you may also stream any of these movies over the WiFi connection of the Archos device.

But if you feal like a 480mbit/s download connection and 100 terrabytes of movie files to choose from, then get your ass down to a Blockbuster kiosk (which probably doesn't cost much more then $1000 to build) and synchronize a whole bunch of content for free and automatically in just a few minutes. For the 90% of people who never stream DVD or HD quality over the Internet, wouldn't know how to or don't want to currently pay for that kind of bandwidth at home, this is a solution for that mass market. Kind of a transition until we all have 100mbit/s fiber to the home.

[b_baggins]

blockbuster needs to leverage their physical presence by I plemsntung delivery. Order your movie online and have a driver bring it to your house within thirty minutes. Faster than download. Faster than netflix. And you get DVD or HD.

[JBengeII]

I enjoy Movielink Rentals through Windows Media Player, the movie plays on my TV before, via S-Video but now HDMI with my new LCD. Having a Set-Top Box is rediculous,the internet is there with a store and your hardware which is non service specific( set-top box) and cost effective since your computer is "Multimedia" . Bandwidth isn't an issue nowadays, you could even stream it on your mobile phone. Looking forward to those days where newest movies are available.

[zunezrok]

Don't you mean apple has no direction. Microsoft has a direction you idiot!

[dyaballikl]

It seems this move is an effort to keep their stores open. Netflix is closing down countless Blockbuster stores with its convenience, and Blockbuster.com hasn't been helping enough. Truth is, they should close all their stores and just work on 1-upping Netflix.

[steveisbest]

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