A Look Back at Why Blockbuster Really Failed and Why It Didn't Have To (2014)

Post by beamatronic » Fri, Jul 13, 2018, 3:42 PM UTC

scarface74 wrote: post #66

burger_moon wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you described is literally the same thing SouthPark makes fun of in the Sodosopa episodes. https://imgur.com/gallery/Xgea4Ot It's amazing how on the nose they are.

That's frighteningly close to the place I was referring to... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pm5BOoS3ihA http://www.experienceavalon.com/ I just watched the video of "sodasopa". If they didn't have the South Park characters in it, I would have thought it was a real ad for either Avalon or one of the other areas in Atlanta.

Post by epc » Fri, Jul 13, 2018, 7:21 PM UTC

ams6110 wrote: post #83

pmoriarty wrote: post #5

Blockbuster used to have a really crappy selection of mostly mainstream movies, but often it was one of the closest video rental stores around, as they seemed to be everywhere. They also censored and cut their movies, which was really annoying. I don't know what their agenda was on that front, and why they couldn't just let mature adults watch the full films. My friends and I used to much prefer going to independent…

> Most people these days don't seem to know that Netflix even has a DVD service A few years ago, Netflix was going to spin off the DVD Service as a separate company. I can't remember the name of it but it was kind of goofy I thought. For some reason they decided to pull back on that and they are still running it as a division within Netflix. However I have to imagine it doesn't make a lot of money compared to streami…

Post by Crontab » Fri, Jul 13, 2018, 8:50 PM UTC

gdulli wrote: post #30

pmoriarty wrote: post #5

Blockbuster used to have a really crappy selection of mostly mainstream movies, but often it was one of the closest video rental stores around, as they seemed to be everywhere. They also censored and cut their movies, which was really annoying. I don't know what their agenda was on that front, and why they couldn't just let mature adults watch the full films. My friends and I used to much prefer going to independent…

> They also censored and cut their movies, which was really annoying This is a bizarre urban legend that I don't believe has ever been substantiated. Can you do so?

Post by mlevental » Fri, Jul 13, 2018, 10:23 PM UTC

amyjess wrote: post #85

sonnyblarney wrote: post #72

I don't think that social influence critical masses were really a factor here. Blockbuster was brick and mortar, and 'on demand from home at $10 a month' is going to kill that business on the basic fundamentals. There's no special science here. Blockbuster executives were fools - not so much to 'not see it coming' (few did) - but to not react when the writing was on the wall. Video streaming might be hard but it's no…

> Blockbuster was brick and mortar, and 'on demand from home at $10 a month' is going to kill that business on the basic fundamentals. That doesn't explain why Redbox managed to thrive though.

Post by Paperweight » Fri, Jul 13, 2018, 10:41 PM UTC

ljf wrote: post #24

Paperweight wrote: post #21

My girlfriend runs an independent video rental store. I've been thinking of ways to implement a streaming service for our extensive collection of physical DVDs from the store to customers in the local area, perhaps to a proprietary TV box. I have the skills to do this. Does anybody here know if this has ever been done, or is legal? I'm in BC, Canada.

https://www.wired.com/2011/08/zediva-shuts-down/ - Zediva tried that previously and it didn't end too well for them. Was and OK service but tech wise it was a bit clunky and not as good as netflix.