Blockbuster buys Movielink
Video rental company Blockbuster has bought the Internet video download movie provider Movielink, in its latest dash to compete with companies like Netflix and Wal-Mart.
Movielink, of Santa Monica, launched in 2001 and became the first service to offer legal downloadable movies and TV shows.
The price was a mere $20 million, according to WSJ, suggesting this was a fire sale — and a significant loss for its former owners, who had pumped $100 million into the effort.
Blockbuster is acquiring rights to show the films of Movielink’s previous owners, which include Warner Brothers Studios, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Paramount Pictures, according to various news reports. Financial terms were not disclosed. The company’s other owners included General Electric’s movie unit Universal Studios and Sony Pictures Entertainment. Blockbuster is also an investor in a CinemaNow, which has thousands of film, TV and concert titles, and offers streaming videos, which Movielink does not.
Netflix, Apple, Amazon.com and Wal-Mart Stores have all introduced movie download services.
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About the Author, Matt Marshall
Matt launched VentureBeat in September of 2006, with the realization that no one else was covering the entrepreneurial and tech innovation scene with the velocity or depth that he was. Prior to founding VentureBeat, he covered venture capital for the San Jose Mercury News from 2001 to 2006. In 2002, Matt was awarded "Journalist of the Year" by the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists. Prior to working at the Merc, he was a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal in Bonn, Germany from 1995 to 1998, and a writer for the Washington Post in 1994. Matt holds a PhD in Government and an MA in German and European Studies from Georgetown University. In addition to VentureBeat, Matt is also the Executive Producer of DEMO, the leading launchpad event for emerging technologies.
