Dish Network Cancels Plans to Rival Netflix with Blockbuster Brand - The UpStream

When Blockbuster Video failed and auctioned off its assets, finally purchased by Dish Network, the question was, what would Dish Network do with the company and brand? Would they keep stores open, or would they be destined to close them down? Would they focus on in-store rentals or give up on that business?

The answer came with an announcement to offer a rental and streaming service to compete with Netflix, the company that caused all of the trouble for Blockbuster in the first place. While it seemed that a Netflix-style service with the Blockbuster name could possibly be a success. There is a certain image you get when you think of Blockbuster, and that is of a well-stocked store filled with classic titles as well as new releases, and Dish Network had hoped that would translate to a thought of a well-stocked video streaming service.

Unfortunately for Dish, that was not the case. This week, they have announced that the business plan has not been successful and they will pull the plug on it entirely. Hit the break to find out what this means for Blockbuster.

Charlie Ergen, Dish's founder and chairman, said,

You make a lot of mistakes in business. I don't think Blockbuster is going to be a mistake, but it's unclear if that's going to be a transformative decision.

At this point, even if the company has no idea how to make Blockbuster useful, they have already turned a profit. They purchased the company for $320 million and have made that back just in the store closings they have done thus far. Ergen said,

There was very little risk in buying. Worst case we break even or make a little bit of money... Worst case, we'll take our money after having wasted some time, not much money, and life goes on.

He added that there are other things in the works for the brand, but won't say what they are. My guess is a closure of all of their stores and never hearing from the brand again. What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.