The idea is that Blockbuster already had strong relationships with practically all the makers. Transitioning to streaming would have been very hard, but coming

The idea is that Blockbuster already had strong relationships with practically all the makers. Transitioning to streaming would have been very hard, but coming into the market with preexisting relationships would have been a huge advantage. On the user side, the storefronts could have helped a lot of less technical people set up their first streaming accounts at home. It was a massive mental leap to go from “movies come out of that box under my tv” to streaming and the storefronts could have helped people make that transition. It’s all to theoretical to talk about whether it would be good or bad for users. Implementing it correctly would have relied on Blockbuster being able to turn itself into a technology company without cannibalizing those things that made it attractive to makers. That is a very hard thing to do and they had to pull it off in a moving market.