Blockbuster, Best Buy doing movie downloads according to Lionsgate CEO

It ain't announced until it's announced, but the same Lionsgate CEO (Jon Feltheimer) that confirmed iTunes movie downloads was apparently on a call with analysts yesterday and divulged that his business has "nearly a dozen active agreements in place for digital delivery of our content with such major players as Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Blockbuster, Best Buy, and Wal-Mart, with more to follow." (Emphasis ours.) Not a huge surprise, being that Blockbuster is already fighting tooth and nail with Netflix, and downloads are a natural progression for Best Buy's retail services -- so unless this guy is sorely mistaken about his company's prospects, keep an eye out for Blockbuster and Best Buy to get even further into the online media game.

[paloooz @ Jun 1st 2007 4:24PM]

Oh great, more DRM.

[Mark @ Jun 1st 2007 4:29PM]

Here's the real question, what flavor is that DRM-goo that comes with the movies?

[James @ Jun 1st 2007 4:33PM]

My question isn't about DRM; I'm wondering if they'll still be preposterously overpriced -- a single movie launching for over 20 bucks, for one DVD? And forget about the HD versions (both formats) -- you can buy a brand-new "budget" (small publisher) console game for less in most cases, and it sure as shit will be entertaining for more than ~2 hours.

[Ryhan @ Jun 1st 2007 4:35PM]

This may seem random, but i justrealized that the two icons are similar... They both are rectangular, and could be initalled as "B.B.", plus they both have a "hole"on the lef-hand side...

hmm.. conspiracy theories are springing to action... could it be the work of a secret monopolistic corporation which controls every company, bringing unreliability and bad-quality into the world?

[michael @ Jun 1st 2007 5:27PM]

Oh great. Another service most people will never probaly use. But at least they're trying in this overwhelmed market.

[Rob @ Jun 1st 2007 6:06PM]

Why is Best Buy involved in this?
I know it's for the money. But, it makes more sense for BlockBuster than for Best Buy.
I wonder if their music download is profitable enough to make sense having it.

That's the problem with these big companies, they want to get into everything they can, even if it doesn't make a lot of sense in a general sense. At least is good for consumers as it creates competition, and as a result keeps prices reasonable.

[mexicanmike @ Jun 2nd 2007 1:46AM]

Best Buy gets involved in these things because ultimately they see that there is huge money to be made!!!! Best buy has switched from being a retailer who moves boxes, products, to a retailer that would like to be known as a comapany that sells services, Buying geek sqaud and magnolia hi-fi, huge well known california service companies. Best buy also has probly entered into this because they are getting their arses handed to them when it comes to selling digital content. Walmart, target, you name em, they outsell BBY when it comes to media. Also, more than likely, if bby could free up their sales floors from all the cd's dvd's, they could bring in higher margin products and earn more per square foot. On top of that it is cheaper to maintain dowload services than to have Joe smoe, college student re-arrange and find all the cd's and dvd's suzy q wants. So by doing this best buy will be able to carry higher margin products in the area now being occupied by an almost no margin product, or just build smaller stores that require less staff and less energy, less everything. Instant gratification will cost you ladies and gents, but with hard drive and server prices dropping, why wouldnt a large reatiler rather just stream you content you will more than likely only watch once. And if you really like it, at least they can sell you a dvd from their online store.

[dandrep @ Jun 4th 2007 4:12AM]

Just a small note. Magnolia Hi-Fi was a Washington company. Started in the Magnolia neighborhood of Seattle, Wa.

[Mexicanmike @ Jun 4th 2007 7:18PM]

You are correct. I mis spoke when i said Magnolia was started in CA. I meant to show that it gained huge popularity in california, and thats how best buy gained knowldge and ultimately saw them as a target to aquire the high end, as well as mid level, home theater enthusiast. I believe that best buy also bought pacific appliances. Or something like that, a southern cal. based appliances company that specializes in high end appliances and kitchen design. I think this was a while ago and may have ultimately turned out to be a failure, because BBY never did any advertiseing or launch, but maybe we will see a comeback.

[Jon @ Jun 2nd 2007 12:01PM]

Rent a DVD (Ahem i meant use your already owned DVD's ) ... Rip a copy ., Use VOB2MPG freeware and stream it from your harddrive to your Xbox360 , No transcoding or anything ... Easy as cake , digital distribution

[Andy @ Jun 4th 2007 10:51PM]

Another small note. Geek Squad started in Minneapolis, MN.