arstechnica.com— Ars goes deep inside the movie rental business to show you what you can have now and what you still can't get.
Jun 5, 2006View in Crawl 4
How long will they stay in business? Netflix and Blockbuster are the big contenders. Can the Johnny-come-latelys compete? Are they able to turn a profit today? Or are they going to have to acquire more customers, then raise prices to stay in business? If they have to raise prices eventually to stay in business, they might as well quit now, because THAT will anger the people who left Netflix or Blockbuster's mail order services. Is there room for smaller fish? I just don't see how they can charge less than Netflix and give out 6 DVD's or games at once? That would mean they have to have a larger inventory of newer material, and that's expensive. There are several ways to compete in this business. Frankly, I've given up on renting. It's too much work. I have a DirecTV HD Tivo, and THAT is plenty nice to have. I pay for HBO, Cinemax. I haven't been inside of Blockbuster or any rental shop in roughly 4 years. I looked at Netflix, but I don't want to wait 2-3 days to see a DVD. I don't want to wait 1 day. I scour the TV schedule on 50 channels, figure out what I'm going to watch, and set my Tivo to record. Then I watch it when I want to.
Well, you see... the thing about being average doesn't mean that everyone has a 52" plasma TV. It means that probably a lot of people have 80" TVs and then a few have 1000" TVs... you know... cause that's how statistics work, right?Think of it like this: if you have a knife and it's smaller than average, you have to figure some guy out there is going to have a knife two or three times larger than your knife just because he got lucky at the knife store...
"Blockbuster's business is going away because buying a DVD is cheaper than renting it over and over."Um, Blockbusters business is in renting DVDs to people who don't want to watch something over and over again (ie, lots and lots of people).I don't buy DVDs any more, simply because I don't feel the need to watch a movie more than once generally, so it's a waste of money.
Closed AccountJun 5, 2006
I just applied at blockbuster for a summer job, but after reading this article, I'm heading to Pirate Bay muahaha. ahh... : |
zambonidriverJun 5, 2006
How long will they stay in business? Netflix and Blockbuster are the big contenders. Can the Johnny-come-latelys compete? Are they able to turn a profit today? Or are they going to have to acquire more customers, then raise prices to stay in business? If they have to raise prices eventually to stay in business, they might as well quit now, because THAT will anger the people who left Netflix or Blockbuster's mail order services. Is there room for smaller fish? I just don't see how they can charge less than Netflix and give out 6 DVD's or games at once? That would mean they have to have a larger inventory of newer material, and that's expensive. There are several ways to compete in this business. Frankly, I've given up on renting. It's too much work. I have a DirecTV HD Tivo, and THAT is plenty nice to have. I pay for HBO, Cinemax. I haven't been inside of Blockbuster or any rental shop in roughly 4 years. I looked at Netflix, but I don't want to wait 2-3 days to see a DVD. I don't want to wait 1 day. I scour the TV schedule on 50 channels, figure out what I'm going to watch, and set my Tivo to record. Then I watch it when I want to.
badaveJun 5, 2006
Well, you see... the thing about being average doesn't mean that everyone has a 52" plasma TV. It means that probably a lot of people have 80" TVs and then a few have 1000" TVs... you know... cause that's how statistics work, right?Think of it like this: if you have a knife and it's smaller than average, you have to figure some guy out there is going to have a knife two or three times larger than your knife just because he got lucky at the knife store...
robdavyJun 5, 2006
"Blockbuster's business is going away because buying a DVD is cheaper than renting it over and over."Um, Blockbusters business is in renting DVDs to people who don't want to watch something over and over again (ie, lots and lots of people).I don't buy DVDs any more, simply because I don't feel the need to watch a movie more than once generally, so it's a waste of money.
diggnationdevonJun 5, 2006
I'll tell you, I've been with blockbuster for years and I just got Netflix a few days ago and I couldn't be more impresssed. Enough said.
dangermouse9Jun 5, 2006
Woohoo for Yeardley Smith! "Is that a boy or a girl?" That movie was highly enjoyable when I was a pre-adolescent.
bimbammitMar 20, 2007
well said! long live the indievidi!