Filed under: Apple Corporate, Multimedia, Rumors, Apple TV
Blockbuster to bring content to Apple
On a January day in 1981, my sisters and I experienced unbridled glee when our father came home with a shiny new VCR. Imagine: Movies. In our own house. Whenever we wanted. What a world! It was an enormous, top-loading hunk of metal and plastic that I'm sure is currently at the bottom of a Pennsylvania landfill.The VCR's arrival spawned the movie rental shop, the biggest of which (In Scranton, anyway) was Blockbuster. Today, services like On Demand, Netflix, Hulu and to a lesser extent Apple TV have forced them to re-think their business model, and they're getting into the video on demand business as well.
According to AppleInsider, Blockbuster's vice president of digital entertainment Kevin Lewis recently told Reuters that they're going to make downloadable content available to TiVo customers soon, and Apple after that.
That's all the detail we've got, but we'll assume he meant the Apple TV and iTunes. We'll keep an eye on this story and keep you updated.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
whoapossum said 11:17AM on 3-25-2009
What's the business model at work here for iTunes (who already rents movies) to bring in Blockbuster?
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SCOTT said 10:00PM on 3-27-2009
@whoapossum
iTunes has prob a 1/4 of the selection that Blockbuster has access to...blockbuster can still do their mail service and the brick and mortar stores and offer content thru TiVo and iTunes...
Blockbuster has the movies studios in their pocket...and that has always the a problem for Apple
Jurjen said 11:26AM on 3-25-2009
Do you really think Appe will let them enter the Apple TV, while Apple delivers pretty much the same service? Seeing that the Apple TV is a rather closed platform, I don't think Blockbuster will get access... Apple would shoot themselves in the foot that way.
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pyrophil542 said 11:48AM on 3-25-2009
I would assume it's a partnership to have rentals become available when films are released.
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glad said 12:00PM on 3-25-2009
You need to think of iTunes as a portal, which can accommodate certain big brands a bit like Amazon do with their website. I am waiting for ebooks to be made available however Amazon might have a hissy fit about it. There's also software as well which could be added in the future (all mac of course). However the announcement could be nothing if they stick Apple in the sentence it will get some column inches somewhere.
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Brian said 12:54PM on 3-25-2009
Apple and Blockbuster sell and rent the same content. I can't imagine Apple is going to allow Blockbuster onto the Apple TV.
Maybe a Blockbuster media player that runs on the Mac?
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SCOTT said 10:06PM on 3-27-2009
@Brian and others...
if you actually knew what you were talking about it would be great...guys...Blockbuster has millions of titles to choose from...Itunes DOES NOT...most movies are not avail on itunes...god forbid you need to get a movie fast for a specific project or something...it's not going to happen with itunes...
shoot...amazon has a better selection than itunes has for movies...but no one can touch itunes for music tho...
get with the program...this would be a partnership thing...
besides blockbuster has been wanting to do the movie download thing for tv's for a while...and if they partner with TiVo and Apple then there is no way Netflix will ever be able to touch them
game over...I have had blockbuster online for a couple years now...it's pretty much the same thing that netflix has but has great selections that netflix doesn’t...see blockbuster has the physical dvds in their stores...and when those older titles are no longer wanted they can keep them and use them for online ...they have it all
eMax said 12:40PM on 3-25-2009
Im going to assume this means streaming that is compatible with a Mac's web browser. NOT iTunes integration. What would blockbuster possibly offer that the iTunes store does not already?
Hmm should I rent Terminator 2 from iTunes on ATV for 4.99 in HD, or from Blockbuster on ATV for 4.99 in HD.
see my point?
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Matt said 1:16PM on 3-25-2009
Currently blockbuster offers downloadable rentals, but for PC only. So I am assuming all they are saying here is that there will be a way for mac users to use their rental system, no big news here.
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JKT said 1:35PM on 3-25-2009
Your summary jumps the gun and makes the same assumption A.I. did--they said they are "considering other platforms". Apple is not specifically mentioned and nothing is definite other than TiVo at this point.
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elindiano said 7:12PM on 3-25-2009
fuck blockbuster.
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Joey said 4:11PM on 3-25-2009
Scranton eh? Nothing like Old Forge Pizza, heyna or no?
/Scranton refugee
// I was on Hatchy Milatchy when I was a kid
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Sebastian said 8:05PM on 3-25-2009
Not to be too nit picky, here, I guess Hulu won't be too happy if you refer people to Netflix. In other words, the link above is wrong. No big deal, of course. :-)
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ccmilesd said 4:29PM on 3-27-2009
The conflict of interest as shown here in where we all assume Apple will block Blockbuster from bringing it's service to iTunes, or the AppleTV is one of the very reasons Apple shouldn't be in the media distribution business...or atleast cling to it as much as they currently do.
Buying a Mac, an iPod, or an AppleTV is a hardware and software choice, I've purchased the product that I think does these functions the best - it shouldn't limit large companies being able able to offer integration with a service they already offer.
It's the closed minded "protect our movie purchases" thinking that will keep people away from these products. I own an AppleTV because it is the easiest way for me to constantly, and effortlessly show photos on my HDTV, and listen to my MP3 collection over my home theater - it doesn't mean I want to be forced into Apple's media store. It doesn't make sense for me to buy or rent every single movie I watch, maybe its cheaper to have a netflix membership, and as a netflix member any additional rental on top of my monthly fee is a waste of money! And if Netflix wants to work a partnership with almost every hardware device out there, its in that hardware devices best interest to work with them.... and once another device does what I want better than the AppleTV does, I'll get rid of it and buy something else.
Microsoft realized that even though they sell and rent movies with their marketplace on the xbox360, a netflix partnership would be appealing and possibly sell some units, at the very least would decrease the likelyhood that customers would jump ship for a device that does what they want.
It wasn't a "closed case" with Microsoft, and it shouldn't be with Apple.
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