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March 25, 2005

11:57 am | 0 recommendations | 2 comments

Blockbuster Battle to Begin!

| posted by Kevin Ohannessian

It seems Blockbuster Inc. backed off from acquiring its competitor Hollywood Video. Instead, Hollywood (number two in home rentals) will merge with Movie Gallery (number three). Their combined company will be a greater rival for Blockbuster (number one).

Apparently, Blockbuster thought they wouldn't get the go ahead by the FTC due to antitrust concerns. So, they just dropped the pursuit. I consider this a case of the system succeeding. Blockbuster will now have greater competition from Hollywood/Movie Gallery. And they are already being forced to give customers more value due to the success of Netflix. I think everyone wins out on this one.

Blockbuster, for a long time, made the rules. They kept increasing prices without hesitation. Now, they are offering unlimited monthly memberships and online memberships. If this competition keeps up maybe we'll see more improvements. Competition should breed better deals. And one company with an impossible lead is not competition. Of course, there are rare instances of success in such situations (Apple). Either way, we can only benefit from the upcoming rental rivalry.

Tags: Work/Life, arts + entertainment
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Recent Comments | 2 Total

March 26, 2005 at 8:18pm

tom guth
I do not think these store front ops will be very profitable in the near future, they are becoming dinos that will soon be extinct
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March 29, 2005 at 2:17am

Joey
Hey, Is anyone out there aware of the current battle against Hollywood Video by a small town in Washington State - Port Townsend? The locals there have gathered 3,400+ petition signatures in a town of 8,000; all pledging to boycott if Hollywood Video is foolish enough to open there. Hollywood Video wants to open an outlet literally next door to a long time local video rental shop. It's a huge debacle, and the people at Hollywood Video are in a frenzy about what to do. The locals have gone global, too. They've teamed up with the international internet boycott organizer, karmabanque.com. You can go to the karmabanque.com website to join the boycott, and you can go to the organizer's website at stophollywoodvideo to see what they are up. All the best, Joey P.S. At the very least you should check out our bumper stickers the website...very hip. Go to the stophollywoodvideo site above, and scroll to the bottom.
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