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Posts Tagged “

Jim Keyes

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circuit city

Blockbuster's Apple envy

The video-rental store is doomed, and even Blockbuster has figured that much out. That's why CEO Jim Keyes is trying to buy Circuit City for more than $1 billion? Blockbuster has become the RadioShack of its time, saddled with too many stores which are too small, selling the wrong thing. It jumped on the business of selling DVDs, instead of renting them, right as disc sales peaked and started to drop. Now, it hopes to sell, via Circuit City's larger outlets, subscriptions to its online video services alongside the devices used to play them. The vision is inspired by Apple, which sells iPods, Apple TV set-tops, and music and video through iTunes. Apple's iTunes movie rentals are a direct threat to Blockbuster's remaining rental business, and Apple is rumored, too, to be getting into the business of music subscriptions. One small problem: It's not clear how Circuit City helps Blockbuster. More »

8:40 AM on Mon Apr 14 2008
By Owen Thomas
877 views, 8 comments

Latest by dalejo: @oreilly: I use the BB Total Access as well, get a movie in the mail, take it to the store and get a just released flick to watch (and certainly faster than netflix). I'll watch digital downloads when there is actual more »