![]()
- The Richest Members of the US Congress
- New Consensus Sees Stimulus Package as Worthy Step
- Wall Street Jobs Slow to Return Despite Record Profits
- Thanksgiving Week Stuffed With Economic News
- Black Friday Deals May Not Signal Retail Comeback
- Investors to Goldman: Be Less Greedy
- UPS Sets New Rates For 2010
- Victoria's Secret Hopes to Rekindle Desire for Lingerie
- 'New Moon' Takes Record $72.7M Box Office Bite
- How Stock Investors Can Play Holiday Travel
- Time Lapse World Series Is A Great Play
- Hirschhorn: Greed...or Fear
- My Top 10 Tech Toys for the Holidays
- iPhone a Better Gaming Platform Than Android?
- May Day For Dendreon
- 100% Mortgage Financing From USDA
- Holiday Tipping: Who And How Much
- Deep Discounts Should Make It a Very Tech-y Holiday
U.S. movie rental chain Blockbuster said Wednesday it has bought film download service Movielink for undisclosed terms, giving it a stronger hold in an area where rival Netflix is
also staking a claim.
Blockbuster has been in talks to buy Movielink since at least March, when sources familiar with the situation put the price tag at under $50 million in cash and stock. A different source said Wednesday the terms had changed, that it was an all-cash deal with a substantially lower purchase price, but declined to elaborate further.
While the market for legal movie downloads is still small, Hollywood and the movie rental industry are backing the sector in hopes it will take off and they can avoid the kind of losses
the music industry suffered through wide-scale unauthorized downloading of copyrighted content.
The acquisition marks Blockbuster's [BBI
Loading...
()
] latest effort to expand beyond the store-based movie-rental market.
Chief Executive Jim Keyes, who recently succeeded John Antioco, told Reuters that Blockbuster will operate Movielink independently and eventually make elements of the service, with more than 3,300 titles available to download, available through blockbuster.com.
In addition to Netflix's [NFLX
Loading...
()
] 4,000-title movie-streaming service launched this year, Movielink competes with a handful of competitors such as Vongo and CinemaNow offering a fraction of the 70,000 titles available on DVD. Blockbuster also has a stake in CinemaNow.
Movielink was launched in 2002 by major studios including Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Viacom's [VIA
Loading...
()
] Paramount Pictures, Sony's [SNE
Loading...
()
] Sony Pictures Entertainment, Time Warner's [TWX
Loading...
()
] Warner Bros., and Universal Studios, operated by General Electric [GE
Loading...
()
] unit NBC Universal. (CNBC is part of NBC Universal.)
Industry watchers note Movielink has struggled to gain traction in the nascent market, but Keyes said the challenges were common to all members of the sector, and mainly consisted
of raising consumer awareness and providing ease of use.
"It's an emerging market and all the players are trying to find the right formula. It's not a unique challenge for Movielink," he said.
Revenue from downloaded videos grew from $11 million in 2005 to $111 million last year, but the figure pales in comparison to the $25 billion in DVD and video consumption in 2006, according to Adams Media Research.
- Technology can make or break a fortune in the world of alternative energy.
- Many people are facing the holidays with substantially smaller incomes. Here’s how some are adapting.
- Jim Cramer is a proponent of stocks that pay healthy dividends, and here are his top five dividend plays.
- From salt, to lip balm to envelopes, it turns out that bacon flavoring can sell almost anything.
- The homebuyer's tax credit jacked sales for a while, but 2010 is looking weak. Now what?
- CNBC’s technology reporter Jim Goldman guides you through the best gadgets to buy this holiday season.













