Why is Blockbuster always late?

Blockbuster has finally joined the group of companies that have entered the movie set-top box arena with the release of the 2Wire MediaPoint player. For a limited time, the device will be offered for free with the advance rental of 25 films for $99.

Sounds interesting, right? Think again. Vudu already offers the same basic service and the Apple TV allows users to download films directly to the device without a problem. But most importantly, Netflix is bringing its own streaming service to a slew of devices, like the Roku Netflix box and the Xbox 360. The Roku box has been available for months.

And now, as Blockbuster and its brick-and-mortar business feels the pressure from Netflix's mail-order business and countless streaming offerings across the Web, the company is just breaking into the set-top box market?

Call me crazy, but if you're an executive at a company that is clinging to the past and trying desperately to turn a business around that has been hammered from all sides by competitors that offer a more compelling service, wouldn't you want to be first to the market?

I know what you're thinking: Blockbuster did acquire Movielink, which shows the company realizes the future is in streaming. Maybe that's true. But if Blockbuster really understood what was going on, don't you think it would have pushed Movielink more than it did instead of allowing to operate in the same basic way it was running prior to the acquisition? Blockbuster had its hands on the future--streaming--and it let it get away.

But this isn't the first time Blockbuster has missed the boat. The company was too late in realizing that brick-and-mortar rentals weren't what consumers were searching for and paid for that mistake by losing millions and closing hundreds of stores. Blockbuster was late to the mail-order business and watched as its own service was dwarfed by Netflix's and rendered irrelevant even though it tried to beat Netflix on price. And now, it's late to the streaming game and even worse, late to the set-top box market even though a slew of companies around it were jumping right in.

With a stock price that's trying desperately to hit $1 per share and a loss during its 2008 fiscal year of $73.8 million, you would think Blockbuster would consider market dynamics, examine changing economic conditions, and enter into a key market sooner rather than later.

Sure, research and development is costly and it's not always easy for a retailer to get into the hardware business, but lets be honest with ourselves--if Netflix could do it successfully, what should stop Blockbuster?

I applaud Blockbuster for entering the set-top box market, but it's sad that it took the company this long to get there.

Failed management and poor strategies won't help Blockbuster overcome its problems.

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[setgo]

I'm through with BB. They made me buy a movie that I brought back late reversing their former policy of just adding a restocking fee. I never heard that the policy was being reversed. So that's the last $20 they will get out of me! Hope you didn't spend it all in one place.

[somone_else]

That's not a policy change. that was introduced with the "no late fess" policy. I believe you get charged for the movie if it's 30 days late. Personally I don't think that's unreasonable.

[scriptedfate]

>Call me crazy, but if you're an executive at a company that is clinging to the past and trying desperately to turn a business around that has been hammered from all sides by competitors that offer a more compelling service, wouldn't you want to be first to the market?

Tell that to the RIAA, insisting on CDs and the MPAA insisting on DVDs in the first place. I agree with you that pure digital multimedia is the 'way of the future', but those associations... yeesh.

[aztec92154]

I sure hope BB doesn't disappear. I still like walking up and down the isles looking for movies. I still dont think XBOX has got it right.

[youngjm]

With all these services, the caps being put in place by the ISP's could now affect more than just those who the ISP's are trying to limit.

[ofmyony]

Here is a site that offers consumers accurate dates of new release movies and other older movies newly released. check it out it is accurate and organized. I use it all the time to update my queue in Netflix.

http://videoeta.com/

[gauispetronius]

What everyone forgets is that BBI did dip its feet in streaming video to set top boxes in 2000-2001. It was in partnership with Enron's broadband service. They teamed to provide a trial movie service using Enron's fiber network and IP set top boxes supplied by Motorola (not the former General Instrument part of Motorola so the STBs didn't work well either). It was small, just a few cities (in Utah and NJ if I recall correctly). The partnership was terminated after about 3 months. BBI said there was no supportable business model for the operation and Enron claimed it made $150M on the enterprise.

6 months later BBI dissolved its New Media Service Group (shortly after 9/11 when no one was paying attention) and buried its head in the sand for another seven years.

[cyberDJ-2038765336053745013836]

This further proves how stupid BB was if they were dabbling in video streaming before the iPod/iTunes juggernaut had landed.

[AnthonyNYC]

BlockBuster was up the block from me, I was in there everyday and one day, I returned a movie 10 minutes past the return time at noon, and was charged a late fee, this is going back years.
I asked to speak to the manager, and explained I thought this was so unfair and that if they charge me this fee, they might as well close my account here and now, as I will never rent from them again.
The so called manager said, there is nothing he can do it was in the computer already, so I asked for my account to be closed and never rented from them again, 7 years ago!
So that so called manager thought a late fee was more important than a satified customer?
It is not only this one instance, everything about BlockBuster is not looking forward to what is good for their customers. No thinking, they follow rules set in stone by out of touch mangement.
They had blacklisted certain titles because the mormon owners thought they were inappropriate, what?
What are they in business to make money or to preach morality?
I am glad they are finally are going under or will soon, they were never a very bright company.