Blockbuster Inc planned to launch an Internet-based DVD rental service across the US yesterday, a move aimed squarely at competitors like Netflix Inc, that have cut into the video giant's store-based business.
The subscription plan will let customers keep up to three movies at a time for US$19.99 per month -- undercutting Netflix by US$2. It will offer five DVDs at a time for US$29.99 a month or eight for US$39.99. The offers will come without late fees, which are a sore spot with many customers. Blockbuster will throw in coupons for free rentals in the stores.
Taking a page from the Netflix book, Blockbuster will pick up shipping charges if customers return the DVDs in specially designed envelopes.
Blockbuster dominates the movie-rental business but has seen its fortunes hurt by the challenge of subscription services such as Netflix and by cheap DVDs for sale at retailers like Wal-Mart Stores and Costco Wholesale Corp.
In the first six months of this year, sales at Blockbuster stores open at least a year fell 5.1 percent, and company officials warned last month that the rental business will keep sliding into next year.
President and chief operating officer Nigel Travis said the online subscription business will bring in new customers -- the company claims that 65 percent of the US population lives within 10 minutes of a Blockbuster, but many rural areas don't have one -- and lead current customers to spend more.
"The mixture of new customers and getting more out of existing customers ... we see ourselves picking up a greater share of the entertainment wallet," Travis said.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS