Blockbuster Takes Movielink Off Studios' Hands For A Pittance
from the on-the-cheap dept
Movielink, the movie download site started by major movie studios, has been up for sale for quite some time. The studios have had a hard time finding a buyer, though, because it's blindingly obvious (to everybody but the studios, apparently) just how badly the site sucks. The studios' desire to lock down the content with restrictive DRM, along with other flaws make the site wholly unattractive for users. It now looks like the studios have finally talked Blockbuster into buying Movielink at a fire-sale price -- less than $20 million, according to the WSJ, compared to the $100 million-plus the studios pumped into the site. Blockbuster may have picked up some download infrastructure on the cheap, but if it hopes to wring any sort of success out of Movielink, it's going to have to completely change the way the site works. But the studios wouldn't let that happen before, since controlling the content was their top priority; since they'll still be licensing the content to Blockbuster, it's unlikely that they'll let it remove any of the barriers to uptake they've put in place.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: downloads, entertainment, movies
Companies: blockbuster, movielink
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Restating the Obvious
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100million dollars
A shitty site idea.
I don't see how it could have taken so much money to put it together?
Must have been one of the higher executives nephews needed a summer job to screw over the businesses with so he got it.
Thats my only thought.
No clue how they could spend that much on it.
OHHH wait, they probably developed some NEW ultra hack proof DRM scheme. That must be it.
R&D monies
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A Changed Economy
Check out my living textbook: http://www.pass-ed.com/Living-Textbook.html
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Pimpin' Crap 2.0
I began titling this entry "RE: A Changed Economy", but then I realized that you had absolutely nothing to say about the posted topic.
You did, unfortunately, take the opportunity to advertise your website; a website that us readers would NEVER have found in the first 500 pages of a Google search.
Trying to elevate your PageRank (tm) with a blog that contains over 80 occurrences to the phrase "web 2.0" this year alone is no substitute for REAL content. Really, only 70 comments to over 180 blog posts of mostly regurgitated crud?
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Re: Pimpin' Crap 2.0
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Re: A Changed Economy
That page looks like it was made by a domain squatter.
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Again, no innovation
Blockbuster needs some innovated ideas rather than the "let's keep up" game.
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So...
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Isn't it true?
"The tighter you squeeze, the more sand slips through your fingers."
For a statement made ever-so-popular by a movie, you'd think Hollywood could listen to the words it puts out.
Guess not.
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Re: TMYTYGTTMSSWSTYF
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24
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