Blockbuster aims to boost rental prices, not fret over expanding digital delivery
It's not tough to say what ails Blockbuster, but it's incredibly hard to see what will turn it around. As the world at large decided to pass up renting from brick-and-mortar locations in favor of by-mail renting or digital downloads, Blockbuster remains stuck in 1983. We already had a clue that it may be jacking rates up further to help with near-term financials, and now those increases are all but set in stone. CFO Thomas Casey noted at a conference in Santa Monica that it would be focusing on "boosting rental prices over broadening its digital delivery service," which is quite amazing given that the outfit just pumped out its own movie set-top-box not two months ago. Oh sure, digital delivery is a much smaller market than the DVD rental sector, but how exactly does Blockbuster plan on raking in revenue with higher prices? It's not like it's about to undercut Netflix.
[Image courtesy of Wired]
