

Dish Network buys Blockbuster for $320 million - pinstriped_dude
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/06/us-blockbuster-dishnetwork-idUSTRE7351VA20110406

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leftnode
It makes me happy that a company that so blatantly laughed in the face of one
of their competitors (Netflix) is now being sold on the chopping block for
pennies on the dollar.

Really makes Reed Hastings look like a visionary.

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pstuart
Redbox is another example of their lack of vision.

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brudgers
Dish probably came out ahead by purchasing the entire company rather than
letting Icahn win and then buying the relevant assets. If Icahn was chasing
it, there was real-estate value there.

And that appears to be the case when one considers that Dish only paid $190k
per store. Based on $20k per store per year that's a 11% cap rate - and the
worst performing locations have already been culled from the portfolio.
Consider that $20k per store per year can probably be achieved with less than
10 Dish network subscription sales per month and the deal for corporate
controlled retail locations makes more sense.

All the rest of it - the streaming and content deals, kiosks, etc. is just
more upside.

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brianbreslin
Few people probably realize that the Blockbuster Express kiosks all over the
country in supermarkets and whatnot are owned by NCR who just licensed the
name from Blockbuster, inc. Dish Network doesn't really benefit from those in
this deal as far as I can tell.

When BB filed for chapter 11, NCR sent out an email stating that it would not
affect BBExpress kiosks in the slightest.

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bryanh
I don't really see any reason for Dish to do this. What value is there? Brand
image? Maybe, but $320 million doesn't sound right.

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bradhe
Digital content distribution deals that blockbuster has cultivated. They don't
give no shits about the stores.

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zeeone
What a bad move! A company of a dying type buys an already dead company.
Nothing new or original to come out of this.

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HeyLaughingBoy
You think that's bad? I still see new video stores opening.

What bank would possibly fund a new B&M video store in 2011?

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pitdesi
Funny response by Fast Company about what to do with it:
[http://www.fastcompany.com/1745065/blockbuster-bought-by-
dis...](http://www.fastcompany.com/1745065/blockbuster-bought-by-dish-
for-320-million-what-next)

