Blockbuster Goes Bust In Portugal, Blames Internet/Piracy
The famous chain renting out DVD, Blu-ray, and video games discs worldwide has announced it has gone bust in Portugal. Of course, it blames piracy.
Founded in 1985, Blockbuster is a well-recognized brand all over the planet with around 9,000 stores in around 25 countries worldwide.
A success for many years, the company started falling on harder times around 7 years ago with decreasing revenues, a trend that continues today.
The company licensed to operate the Blockbuster brand in Portugal has just announced it has initiated insolvency proceedings
“Our energies are now focused on trying to minimize the impact on our employees,” the company said in a statement.
Blockbuster is blaming its Portuguese demise on piracy and entertainment becoming available in new forms on the Internet.
Portugal’s Association of Audiovisual Commerce (ACAPOR) doesn’t spread the blame so thinly.
Spokesman Nuno Pereira said piracy was the main cause of reduced performance in the sector and accused the government of inaction in the face of “brazen and shameless theft.”
Neither company cite a failure to innovate as a reason for Blockbuster’s demise and will presumably continue trying to rent out plastic discs in other regions.
Ahh, Piracy to blame.
Same thing is said about what happened to Pakistan’s film industry.
Of course they forget to mention that commercial piracy in Pakistan is worth $27Million a year, anyone who wanted to be a film producer was legally required to have a college degree, the government, due to religous concerns about people gathering, heavily taxed or otherwise forced shutdowns of the majority of cinemas as well as having a copywright law that expressly ignored Indian films as a factor in an econmic war on India.
Of course who gets all the blame, Piracy, Internet Piracy of course.
Idiocy knows no borders.
Amusingly enough, Blockbuster is trying to innovate in the US. You can not rent by mail without having to join the “monthly recurring bill” club. Something Netflix will not do… I finally got to see Sunset (1988) again, something not available locally, and not on The Pirate Bay.
Typo above…
You can NOW rent by mail…
Doh!
Talk about missing my own point…
It’s so cheap to buy dvd’s from online stores especially since alot do free postage, if you want a few months they’re available for a couple of quid. At least then you own it and don’t have to return. I never liked the idea of blockbuster I have to be honest. Also there’s ALOT more range online (same with any shopping really). Sure piracy may have a part to play but Blockbuster is something that needs to heavily innovate. I reckon the UK branchs won’t last too long either.
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Easy to blame piracy when a company tries to force an outdated business model on a market that doesn’t want it. In reality, Blockbuster’s real problem is failure to innovate.
In Portugal the minumum wage is more or less 500 euros…
A dvd in Blockbuster for 3 nights costs 3.70euros…
In Portugal you pay between 3 and 4 euros to go to the cinema
In an old video store you can rent a film for 2 euros and have it 5 days…
Blockbuster could lower the price to 3.00euros 2.80euros because its a huge company,but no,money talks higher…
I’m sorry about the workers that lost their jobs but i havo no pity on Blockbuster,they wil continue earning billions…also think te«hey have to change thou
THAT IS MUCH HIGHER THAN THE MINIMUM.
I always though blockbuster stores were rip offs. I guess the same could be said about alot of places though. I will continue to get my movies from emule. Have fun blockbuster. Ps: I don’t like drm.
They are following the same path in other countries. Here they charge the equivalent of $5 for 2 nights for most titles. Why would I pay that if I can go to the neighborhood renting and get a more varied selection for $1.50?
Of course once they fail here they`ll blame file sharing…
Fail. LoL
I think I have to sort of agree, that piracy probably has affected the rental market, BUT that isn’t the only problem. There used to be a much longer delay between release to rental and release to retail. Nowadays, they are pretty much released at the same time or very close, so more people will actually just buy the DVD as opposed to renting it. They also have to compete now with the likes of Sky Movies and LoveFilm.com so while piracy may be a factor to put it all down to piracy is just plain wrong. It’s just another case of a changing marketplace and a company not adapting it’s business model to suit the new market.
Yeah, they need to go bottom up all-together and GTFO. Honestly, in the US there are way better legit alternatives that are more cost effective than renting from Blockbuster, Netflix, Red Box or even Hollywood Video (if you can find one). In the UK you can still buy a movie pass and see as many movies as you want in most theatres which some continue playing movies way past their street date for DVDs. If they should blame anyone, it should be the lack of competition in Portugal. You don’t have nearly enough options, it’s either Blockbuster, Piracy or some small 3rd party chain.
Privacy to blame! —- Bullsh*t!
I use to rent videos/DVDs very frequently once, but nowadays you have satelite TV etc. and they are available not long after the rental availability, if not at the same time. Pay per view is your friend :-)
I must admit I use the internet for tv shows, but then in Australia they stuff around with showing them I cannot be asked to chase it.
Suuuure, piracy…
Innovative thinking.
Netflix Announces Q4 2009 Financial Results
Subscribers – 12.3 million
Revenue – $444.5 million
GAAP Net Income – $30.9 million
GAAP EPS – $0.56 per diluted share
LOS GATOS, Calif., January 27, 2010 – Netflix, Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX) today reported results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2009.
“Adding more than one million net new subscribers in the fourth quarter and nearly three million over the full year highlights the growing appeal of the Netflix service as we further expand access to and adoption of streaming movies and TV episodes over the Internet,” said Reed Hastings, Netflix co-founder and chief executive officer. “In 2010, we expect to extend our operating momentum as we grow the business both rapidly and profitably.”
Sat with thumb in nether region:
Blockbuster (BBI) continues to struggle.
The video-store chain this afternoon said it now expects to report 2009 adjusted EBITDA of $195 million to $205 million, resulting in a GAAP loss of $183 million to $193 million before any goodwill impairment. The company said that it is adjusting its forecast to reflect “lower than expected results” for Q4 and “particularly the 2009 holiday season.”
CEO Jim Keyes said in a statement that the company in Q4 increased inventory to support higher in-stock availability, and invested in advertising to drive traffic in store and online. But despite those efforts, “our performance during the holidays was well below expectations and anticipated adjusted EBITDA was affected, specifically in the month of December.” Another issue, he added, was lower than expected international results.
The company said it plans to further reduce costs and will remain conservative in capital spending.