Want to rent 'Up?' No closed captions for you!

You'll be in for a disappointment if you decide to rent Disney/Pixar's Up instead of buying it, especially if you're hard of hearing. According to the Consumerist, copies of Up distributed to rental chains like Blockbuster, Netflix, and Redbox are missing nearly all special features, including closed captioning.

Stripped rental versions of movies aren't unheard-of, but there's a pretty big difference between cutting out commentary and featurettes, and cutting out subtitles. If you're hard of hearing, this is a pretty big problem. It's bad enough to not hear the fantastic voicework of Ed Asner and Bob Peterson as Carl and Dug, but to not be able to get any of the dialogue in any form? That's a low blow.

Of course, this only applies to rental versions of Up. If you buy the movie, it'll come fully-equipped.

— Will Greenwald

Blockbuster to close 960 stores by end of 2010

Talking about the economy is like talking about the weather at this point. It's chit-chat, conversation padding that everyone knows about. It's also the reason Blockbuster is closing almost a thousand stores by the end of next year.

According to CNET, Blockbuster has filed plans with the SEC to close 960 stores by the end of 2010. The filing states that a whopping 18 percent of the company's stores are unprofitable, and will be shut down. Blockbuster plans to close up to 685 stores by the end of this year, and the remaining 275 by the end of 2010.

Blockbuster in danger of busting

Yesterday, Blockbuster disclosed that it might not be able to stay in business. This comes only a week after the company revealed that it had a recently-amended $250 million revolving loan that matures in September of next year. The loan relies on certain criteria to be met, and if Blockbuster cannot meet that criteria, it won't get the funding.

According to a recent Associated Press report, Blockbuster has said that, even with the loan, it “may not have sufficient liquidity to finance the ongoing obligations of our business, which raises substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.”

While this news might not be a major concern to the millions of movie watchers who have embraced services like Netflix and the various available Video-On-Demand libraries, this is still quite jarring. Blockbuster remains the nation's largest video rental chain, and revelations of its uncertain future come less than two weeks after it announced a partnership with TiVo.

Blockbuster believes it will be able to determine whether it can fulfill the loan's requirements by mid-May. In other news, Netflix has just shipped its 2 billionth disc.

— Will Greenwald

[MSNBC/AP via Gizmodo]

Blockbuster, TiVo join forces, put VOD on DVR

TiVo has just announced a partnership with Blockbuster to expand the availability of both TiVo DVRs and Blockbuster's on-demand video service. By the second half of 2009, TiVo will have integrated Blockbuster OnDemand content into its Series2, Series3, HD, and HD XL DVR units. Users will be able to rent and buy movies from Blockbuster directly through their TiVos.

In addition to getting Blockbuster videos while watching their TiVos, customers will also be able to get TiVos while browsing at Blockbuster. The company's brick-and-mortar stores will begin carrying TiVos, and blockbuster.com will directly sell the units.

To promote the partnership, both TiVo and Blockbuster plan to begin marketing campaigns that highlight the crossover services and products. Blockbuster already offers a set-top box for its VOD content, the 2Wire MediaPoint Media Player. Keep an eye on Bitstream as we determine whether Blockbuster's little brother to the TiVo will end up a Jan Brady or a Chuck Cunningham.

(UPDATE: I spoke with a Blockbuster representative, who said that the company will still sell the 2Wire MediaPoint box, and that it doesn't plan to drop the system any time soon. It will be sold alongside TiVo products at Blockbuster stores and on blockbuster.com. Jan Brady it is!)

— Will Greenwald

Blockbuster Playing Games

Got game? Blockbuster Total Access wants your business. The company is starting a new program to offer video game rentals as part of its movies-by-mail service. They're going to start with a limited number of subscribers when the program launches in a few weeks, but the company is saying that it will be available to everyone by the summer.

While Netflix has been receiving the lionshare of news with all the talk about streaming video, this move breathes new life into the struggling company.  Blockbuster still needs to compete with other game-by-mail service, but they're the first to offer both movies and games.

The program will work similarly to how their movie service works. However, instead of getting free movies from the physical stores, games will be half price. Still, that could easily add up to some substantial savings. If you've got game. --Leslie Shapiro

CNET

Blockbuster Busting into VOD

Not happy with just MovieLink, Blockbuster is also partnering with Sonic Solutions' CinemaNow for Internet delivery of movies.  This new partnership will let Blockbuster package deals with hardware providers.   They're keeping MovieLink, but this new deal will let Blockbuster work with the likes of LG, Samsung and more to provide video-on-demand service directly to viewing hardware.

Blockbuster also intends to sell equipment that will play their VOD content at their stores, giving them a jump on competitor Netflix.

Currently, Blockbuster has about 90,000 DVD titles available by mail, and only 10,000 available for VOD delivery.  Netflix claims to have about 12,000.  It's not clear how many, if any, of those 10,000 titles are available in HD.  --Leslie Shapiro

USA Today

Blockbuster On-Demand

Blockbuster has yet another way to get their movies into your home.  And this one looks like it could make a bit of a splash. Blockbuster has been losing the battle with Netflix, with hundreds of stores shutting down recently. Their subscription service let them compete head-to-head, and consumers liked having movies delivered to their home.

However, when Netflix unveiled their Roku box that let consumers stream to a box that could be viewed on their TVs, Blockbuster only had Movielink.  Movielink is a great download service, but it confined the movies to a computer - a PC at that - it still is not Mac-compatible.

Blockbuster's brand new on-demand service will rely the MediaPointTM digital media player, on a box made by 2Wire Inc., and it will be similar to the storage device supplied by Vudu.

See how much this pay-per-view box will set you back.

Movielink.com Closing, Absorbed By Blockbuster

Movielink has been part of Blockbuster for months now, but their own website was still up and running. Well, until now, that it. Movielink.com is officially closing on December 15, 2008. No more downloads through them, but all those movies will still be available for downloading through Blockbuster.com.

Best part - no subscription is required to download from them, and the selection is great.  Ironman, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and other blockbusters.  Get it - blockbusters, at Blockbuster? Never mind.

There is one small catch . . .

Blockbuster's Set-Top Box: Home for the Holidays

Is this yet another case of "too little, too late?" Blockbuster CEO/Chairman Jim Keyes made an interesting announcement during an investor call last week. Perhaps after seeing the reception that the Xbox 360 and Playstation made with their downloading capabilities, and the success that Netflix's Roku set-top box received with its new HD capabilities, Blockbuster is jumping into the movie-download-to-set-top-box business.

Well, putting a toe in to test the waters might be more accurate. There were no real details in his announcement, besides that they're aiming to have this in time for the holiday season. This is through their Movielink service. 

Interestingly . . .

Blockbuster Stores Sticking Around

We go on and on about digital downloads, video-on-demand, and even mail-order movie delivery. Let's face it, there's lots to talk about there. It's easy to forget that your neighborhood Blockbuster stores are still around, and still account for more than half of Blockbuster's total sales.

While hundreds of their stores closed recently, Blockbuster has announced plans to renovate and update their remaining stores, including plans to increase the number of in-store downloads kiosk. Come on, you knew we had to mention downloads one more time.

What Blockbuster has over other services is that even customers who typically order through the mail have an option of returning a movie to the store or just pick up something if what arrived at home doesn't suite the mood.

What does Blockbuster's CFO have to say?