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Blockbuster had exclusive rental agreements where they could rent movies for weeks before Redbox. I'm not sure where the first-sale doctrine came into play ther
by TheGRS 8y ago
Blockbuster had exclusive rental agreements where they could rent movies for weeks before Redbox. I'm not sure where the first-sale doctrine came into play there, but this was a reality of the time when Redbox began to make a big splash in the physical rental scene.
I think the fact that renters had more choices in 1999 is because Blockbuster was a near monopoly and nobody was really challenging their status quo outside of some regional shops. All of the price changes happened as Redbox entered the scene, not Netflix streaming (though Netflix mailers were a challenge as well). So even without these streaming services you'd be seeing the same BS with only being able to buy a film for several weeks before it would be available to rent.
- tzs 8y ago> Blockbuster had exclusive rental agreements where they could rent movies for weeks before Redbox. I'm not sure where the first-sale doctrine came into play there, but this was a reality of the time when Redbox began to make a big splash in the physical rental scene. First sale only works effectively once the studio starts selling copies at retail. After that, when anyone could go down to Target, or Walmart, or Best Buy and buy retail copies, then so could Redbox, and there was nothing the studios could do to stop them. I believe that the way things like the Blockbuster exclusive deals worked is that the studios would make a deal with Blockbuster to sell copies to Blockbuster weeks before they released them for purchase at retail.