Blockbuster Video, headquartered in Dallas, Texas, USA, is the name of the largest chain of video tape, video game and DVD rental shops in North America, with shops in countries like Canada, the US, the UK, Australia, Germany and Taiwan.

Blockbuster's first store opened on October 19, 1985, and was grown into a multi-billion dollar company by Wayne Huizenga, until it was sold to Viacom in 1994.

In 2003, Viacom said that it has 4,971 U.S. locations and 2,405 international locations, with more than 43 million U.S. households with Blockbuster memberships.

As of 2004, Blockbuster decided to withdraw from Hong Kong, where it cannot compete with the VCD shops, both local ones and those across the border within Shenzhen. On May 19, Blockbuster acquired Rhino Video Games , in an effort to compete with GameStop.

In the middle of 2004, Blockbuster introduced their DVD rental service by mail to compete with other online DVD rental providers such as Netflix.

Also in the middle of 2004, Blockbuster rolled out Blockbuster 3.0. Customers are now given the option to choose their own rental terms on most movies (they can elect to keep them for a day at a lower price, or keep them for a week at regular price); the Blockbuster Game Pass and Movie Pass allow customers to exchange-and-return their games and movies as much as they desire for a low monthly charge; and in-store DVD and game trading allows customers to get store credit for titles that they own.

At the end of 2004, Blockbuster has publicly stated that it plans to acquire it's competitor, Hollywood Video, in a hostile takeover. According to press releases, they plan to offer $11.50 per share for Hollywood Video stock directly to shareholders.

Also, Blockbuster rolled out in-store Game Rush locations that provide a wide variety of games and systems, from the Nintendo Entertainment System all the way up to the modern PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube systems. Game Rush locations tend to offer special deals on game trading that seem to be focused on improving their inventory of used games rather than trying to actually cut a profit.

Blockbuster was once owned by media giant Viacom but was split off on Oct. 13th, 2004.

The company has a large Irish subsidary, Xtravision, which has never changed to using Blockbuster brand.

Contents

1 Concerns and Censorship 2 Advertising 2.1 Slogans 3 External links

Concerns and Censorship

Their massive international permeation and domination of the video market has placed certain business practices under scrutiny. Critics of the chain, including Naomi Klein in her anti-globalization book No Logo, say that they use their power to enact censorship - this accusation stemming from the fact that Blockbuster are reputed to edit videos for release beyond the standard retail cut, or at the very least use their significant market share to influence studios to edit in order to lower their certification and reach a wider market.

Also on the subject of censorship, on the 27 November 1990, the MPAA introduced the NC-17 rating, in order to distinguish non-pornographic adult material from 'X-rated' which had been hijacked by the porn industry. Under pressure from the fundamentalist christian organisation the American Family Association, headed by Rev. Donald Wildmon, Blockbuster decided not to stock NC-17 titles. The AFA also succesfully campaigned against films such as The Last Temptation of Christ.

Further criticism is that their business model has led to a dilution of availability. The standard model for video rental stores was that they would pay a large flat fee per video, approximately US$65, and have unlimited rentals from the lifetime of the cassette itself. The new system, controlled by the distribution company Rentrak, and perhaps influenced by the studios due to the smaller space constraints and longer shelf-life of the DVD format , is based on royalties. Blockbuster obtain videos for little or no cost, and take approximately half of the rental fee, paying the other half back to the studio and to Rentrak. Under this model, there is little incentive to purchase movies that have enduring interest for fewer people. Riding on the hype generated by the vast marketing campaigns of Hollywood blockbusters they will fill the shelves with multiple copies of the same brand new film, which may have a shelf life of only 2-3 months - they combine this with a promise that the video will be in stock or you rent it for free the following time. This often leads to shelf-saturation, where there may be 50 copies of the latest hyped movie available, yet they have little, if any older or foreign movie section.

Advertising

Blockbuster's best known ad campaign was launched during the 2002 Superbowl. It starred the voices of Jim Belushi and James Woods, as a rabbit and a hamster in a pet shop, located across the road from a blockbuster.

Slogans

• Wow, what a difference
• Make it a Blockbuster Night

See also: Blockbuster (general meaning of the word)

External links

• Blockbuster Video website http://www.blockbuster.com/
• IHateBlockbuster.com Forums for (ex)employees http://www.ihateblockbuster.com/
• Blockbuster DVD Rental Review http://www.rentingdvdsonline.com/blockbuster-online-rentals.php
• Rentrak, Blockbuster's distribution company, controlling industry revenue sharing http://www.rentrakppt.com/