4 ms·

It still would have been a bad deal, because there is no way that Blockbuster would have given them the freedom and the funding necessary to execute their pivot

It still would have been a bad deal, because there is no way that Blockbuster would have given them the freedom and the funding necessary to execute their pivot from a DVD-by-mail service to a streaming video service.

empath75 7y ago
Yep would have been aol/time warner all over again.
gandalfian 7y ago
Blockbuster did put lots of money into developing streaming technology and absolutely saw it as the future. But they were too early and gained no traction. By the time the moment arrived they no longer had the money and energy. But overal I agree Netflix wouldn't have been Netflix if it had sold out early.
- basch 7y ago
  Also, the main other party in the 2000ish Blockbuster streaming service was Enron. So it probably would have collapsed or fallen into troubled times and been acquired, no matter what.
  - technofiend 7y ago
    Enron was also trying to create bandwidth commodities that traded the same as energy, which was typical of Enron. Create a market, make use of the market and double dip on profits. https://www.wired.com/2001/11/enron-a-bandwidth-bloodbath/ https://www.wired.com/2001/11/enron-a-bandwidth-bloodbath/
- agumonkey 7y ago
  I'd love a list of all the too-earlys ..
  - gandalfian 7y ago
    I can only remember the conman who claimed he could do broadband over dialup. https://web.archive.org/web/20170320224412/http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/050502/met_9322821.html https://web.archive.org/web/20170320224412/http://jacksonvil... but statistically they must have thrown money at someone who wasn't a crook, mustn't they?
  - new_realist 7y ago
    Six Degrees: Facebook met LinkedIn in 1997.
    - agumonkey 7y ago
      oh yeah .. indeed too early
  - INTPenis 7y ago
    My favorite is Microsoft Terra which was designed mostly to show off their SQL database. THey had no idea about the power of personal data that Google would exploit much later with Google Earth.
    - agumonkey 7y ago
      Ah well, very similarly DEC made altavista to show off so never thought of it as a product. Then Google came.
      - INTPenis 7y ago
        Really? I had no idea Altavista was from DEC. In school in sweden we actually had a computer class where they taught us to use altavista. This was before Google blew up.
        agumonkey 7y ago
        altavista history is "fun" https://digital.com/about/altavista/ https://digital.com/about/altavista/
- kjksf 7y ago
  > But they were too early and gained no traction As I understand the history of Blockbuster, the CEO was actually winning against Netflix. It was obviously costly fight (needed lots of investment). The Blockbuster CEO met his performance goal and was expecting hefty bonus but Carl Icahn, a board member and big Blockbuster shareholder, torpedoed the bonus award. CEO quit. The next CEO reduced spending in dvd-by-mail and online streaming and Netflix won. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110318006089/en/Happened-Blockbuster-Story-John-Antioco-Carl-Icahn https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110318006089/en/Hap... So you could say that Blockbuster lost because Carl Icahn is an idiot and single-handedly destroyed Blockbuster. There's no indication that they lost because they were "too early". In fact, their online product was "pay-per-view" while Netflix was "all-you-can-eat" https://www.cnet.com/news/netflix-vs-blockbuster-whats-the-best-service-for-streaming-and-dvds/ https://www.cnet.com/news/netflix-vs-blockbuster-whats-the-b...
  - zaphirplane 7y ago
    Too early can be, when bandwidth was slow and download cap were small. Downloading was discouraging
overcast 7y ago
The irony(maybe?) here is that DVD-by-mail is the ONLY way I can watch 99% of the movies out there. Streaming services are shit in comparison. They win in convenience, but barely.
- paggle 7y ago
  The high quality unpopular movies don’t make it on anyone’s radar to negotiate streaming rights. The high quality popular movies are too valuable to offer to Netflix for a price they would be willing to pay. I like Amazon’s pay-per-watch system much better.
  - overcast 7y ago
    But even that doesn't have EVERYTHING. It's very rare, that I don't find even the most obscure stuff available on Netflix DVD service. I'm a huge film fanatic, and $20 for roughly 3 movies a week is a steal. Streaming service video/audio quality just isn't on par with a Blu-Ray disk. The audio is often horrendous, which I understand most don't care about as long as they can see the picture on their $175 4K TV from Costco. Also, I wish their old distributions points would open back up, used to be next day turn around and Saturday :( I honestly don't know what I would turn to if the service went away.
    - paggle 7y ago
      Yeah, I’m not as much of a film buff as you. Pay to rent on Amazon does the job for me except about once a year when I order a disc.
  - technofiend 7y ago
    I wonder if the answer to this is adopting the mechanical royalty model from the music industry. Anyone can stream the movie but a royalty must be paid.
- ghaff 7y ago
  However, the Netflix DVD back catalog is effectively falling out of availability. Disks for low-volume movies are obviously not being replenished as they get lost, scratched, etc. I'm seriously thinking of just dropping my Netflix DVD-by-mail subscription at this point and "putting" the money into my disk purchase budget.
gwern 7y ago
Why not? Netflix itself thought that Blockbuster's 2007 'Total Access' program was going to drive Netflix into bankruptcy: https://twitter.com/modestproposal1/status/1155147785467023361 https://twitter.com/modestproposal1/status/11551477854670233...

empath75 7y ago

Yep would have been aol/time warner all over again.

gandalfian 7y ago

Blockbuster did put lots of money into developing streaming technology and absolutely saw it as the future. But they were too early and gained no traction. By the time the moment arrived they no longer had the money and energy. But overal I agree Netflix wouldn't have been Netflix if it had sold out early.

basch 7y ago
Also, the main other party in the 2000ish Blockbuster streaming service was Enron. So it probably would have collapsed or fallen into troubled times and been acquired, no matter what.
- technofiend 7y ago
  Enron was also trying to create bandwidth commodities that traded the same as energy, which was typical of Enron. Create a market, make use of the market and double dip on profits. https://www.wired.com/2001/11/enron-a-bandwidth-bloodbath/ https://www.wired.com/2001/11/enron-a-bandwidth-bloodbath/
agumonkey 7y ago
I'd love a list of all the too-earlys ..
- gandalfian 7y ago
  I can only remember the conman who claimed he could do broadband over dialup. https://web.archive.org/web/20170320224412/http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/050502/met_9322821.html https://web.archive.org/web/20170320224412/http://jacksonvil... but statistically they must have thrown money at someone who wasn't a crook, mustn't they?
- new_realist 7y ago
  Six Degrees: Facebook met LinkedIn in 1997.
  - agumonkey 7y ago
    oh yeah .. indeed too early
- INTPenis 7y ago
  My favorite is Microsoft Terra which was designed mostly to show off their SQL database. THey had no idea about the power of personal data that Google would exploit much later with Google Earth.
  - agumonkey 7y ago
    Ah well, very similarly DEC made altavista to show off so never thought of it as a product. Then Google came.
    - INTPenis 7y ago
      Really? I had no idea Altavista was from DEC. In school in sweden we actually had a computer class where they taught us to use altavista. This was before Google blew up.
      - agumonkey 7y ago
        altavista history is "fun" https://digital.com/about/altavista/ https://digital.com/about/altavista/
kjksf 7y ago
> But they were too early and gained no traction As I understand the history of Blockbuster, the CEO was actually winning against Netflix. It was obviously costly fight (needed lots of investment). The Blockbuster CEO met his performance goal and was expecting hefty bonus but Carl Icahn, a board member and big Blockbuster shareholder, torpedoed the bonus award. CEO quit. The next CEO reduced spending in dvd-by-mail and online streaming and Netflix won. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110318006089/en/Happened-Blockbuster-Story-John-Antioco-Carl-Icahn https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110318006089/en/Hap... So you could say that Blockbuster lost because Carl Icahn is an idiot and single-handedly destroyed Blockbuster. There's no indication that they lost because they were "too early". In fact, their online product was "pay-per-view" while Netflix was "all-you-can-eat" https://www.cnet.com/news/netflix-vs-blockbuster-whats-the-best-service-for-streaming-and-dvds/ https://www.cnet.com/news/netflix-vs-blockbuster-whats-the-b...
- zaphirplane 7y ago
  Too early can be, when bandwidth was slow and download cap were small. Downloading was discouraging

overcast 7y ago

The irony(maybe?) here is that DVD-by-mail is the ONLY way I can watch 99% of the movies out there. Streaming services are shit in comparison. They win in convenience, but barely.

paggle 7y ago
The high quality unpopular movies don’t make it on anyone’s radar to negotiate streaming rights. The high quality popular movies are too valuable to offer to Netflix for a price they would be willing to pay. I like Amazon’s pay-per-watch system much better.
- overcast 7y ago
  But even that doesn't have EVERYTHING. It's very rare, that I don't find even the most obscure stuff available on Netflix DVD service. I'm a huge film fanatic, and $20 for roughly 3 movies a week is a steal. Streaming service video/audio quality just isn't on par with a Blu-Ray disk. The audio is often horrendous, which I understand most don't care about as long as they can see the picture on their $175 4K TV from Costco. Also, I wish their old distributions points would open back up, used to be next day turn around and Saturday :( I honestly don't know what I would turn to if the service went away.
  - paggle 7y ago
    Yeah, I’m not as much of a film buff as you. Pay to rent on Amazon does the job for me except about once a year when I order a disc.
- technofiend 7y ago
  I wonder if the answer to this is adopting the mechanical royalty model from the music industry. Anyone can stream the movie but a royalty must be paid.
ghaff 7y ago
However, the Netflix DVD back catalog is effectively falling out of availability. Disks for low-volume movies are obviously not being replenished as they get lost, scratched, etc. I'm seriously thinking of just dropping my Netflix DVD-by-mail subscription at this point and "putting" the money into my disk purchase budget.

gwern 7y ago

Why not? Netflix itself thought that Blockbuster's 2007 'Total Access' program was going to drive Netflix into bankruptcy: https://twitter.com/modestproposal1/status/1155147785467023361 https://twitter.com/modestproposal1/status/11551477854670233...