Blockbuster joins the movie set-top-box game with 2Wire MediaPoint player

We've rubbed our eyes four or five times now, but the factual heat remains: Blockbuster -- of all companies -- has decided to dive headfirst into the movie set-top-box arena. We wanted to believe the rumors were false, but sure enough, it has joined VUDU, Apple TV, Roku and the Xbox 360 in the highly competitive market place for your digital download dollars. For a "limited time," the outfit will offer the 2Wire-built MediaPoint player for free with the "advance rental of 25 first-run movies, TV shows, foreign or classic films from Blockbuster On-Demand (previously Movielink) for $99." After that, rentals are $1.99 to $3.99 apiece, and a Blockbuster subscription is not required. The unit itself measures 8- x 8- x 1-inch and includes two USB ports, an SD slot, Ethernet / WiFi and an HDMI port, and it should be available at the company's website and in select retail stores very soon. So, are you interested in the à la carte approach?

[savagemike Posted Nov 25th 2008 6:37AM]

One major point that both the original article and all previous comments are missing...
Per blockbusters own page on this deal/device.....
Additional rental (beyond the initial 25 for the buy in of the box) "START" at $1.99
Note... additional rentals ARE NOT ALL $1.99.... that is the STARTING price.
So... the price for general catalog movies....
I'm guessing new releases and foreign or otherwise popular films will still be more like $3.99 or something...

So.... I'm not down with these muther 'uckers, 'uckin' with my transactional shit like that....
Not thanks...

- m

[PaulY Posted Nov 25th 2008 11:02AM]

Wow, that's a pretty big mis-statement on the part of the source article (and Engadget). Assuming it keeps MovieLink's pricing structure, then most will be 2.99 to 3.99. At 1.99, this seemed quite good in a market of "okays," but now this falls back into the "okay" crowd. I doubt that per-movie price will draw many "normals" away from the rental store and cable PPV, and is now much less competitive with the likes of Apple and Vudu. So, I at least partially take back my prior comments.

Oh, and this explains the "free" part: $3.99 x 25 == $99 (or thereabouts).

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 25th 2008 8:56AM]

So it's PPV, but I have to pay for an ugly box. They just don't get it.

[bkhsms Posted Nov 25th 2008 9:18AM]

25 movies for $100? And $1.99 after that to be a beta tester on a server network that hasn't done a burn in yet? Mmm, no thanks. TiVo has been around for 10 plus years and is gaining every movie provider known to man. Pour your money into what you don't have to provide the hardware for Blockbuster.

[Tweak589 Posted Nov 25th 2008 1:58PM]

Man, Blockbuster is so.... 10 years ago? They are falling behind just as Tower Records did... Let it go Blockbuster, you're losing.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 9th 2008 2:52AM]

I guess that Blockbuster will stay, but 2Wire may not. The problem is that 2Wire is full of idiots. They have never created an innovative TV/video/media product. Look, they just bumped out their Executive Media VP. They also laid off 50 workers. They are dying. It is no surprise, idiots will not survive. They have zero media related experience, that is why they are now repeating Akimbo's download & play Set-Top-Box model. What can I say! Those whacky idiots!