QOTD: “This Is the End” of a Video-Rental Era

The last BLOCKBUSTER rental 11/9 Hawaii 11PM

— After announcing the closing of its last remaining 300 (of more than 9,000) brick-and-mortar stores, Blockbuster tweeted the poetically apt final in-store video rental — the James Franco/Seth Rogan apocalypse-pic “This Is the End”

Reed Hastings Has a Long Memory, Sharp Wit

Oh well. No one is right all the time.

— Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, on Facebook, linking to a 2005 MarketWatch story in which analyst Michael Pachter put a $3 price target on Netflix and said the company “continues to underestimate Blockbuster’s market position.”

Android-on-Windows Specialist BlueStacks Takes Aim at Console Gaming

Moving beyond the desktop, BlueStacks is launching GamePop — an Android-based console with a subscription game service.

Dish’s Charlie Ergen on Ads, Wireless, Cord-Cutting, Culture and Blockbuster (Video)

Here’s the full video of Charlie Ergen at D: Dive Into Media.

Voices

Dish to Shut 300 Blockbuster Sites; 3,000 Layoffs Loom

Dish Network Corp. plans to close a further 300 Blockbuster stores in the U.S. in the coming weeks, leaving the video chain with less than one-third of the stores acquired by the satellite-television company in 2011.

Meet the Man Who Wants to Blow Up the TV Business: Dish Network’s Charlie Ergen Comes to Dive Into Media

A rare appearance from a maverick billionaire with big plans.

Comcast’s Netflix Killer Isn’t One Yet. But It Could Be.

Comcast won’t sell you its new Web video service unless you’re a Comcast cable subscriber. But it could change that overnight.

Verizon Teams With Redbox for a Netflix-Style Video Service

Here’s the Netflix-style video service that Verizon wouldn’t talk about a couple months ago — a joint venture with Redbox, which has an uneasy relationship with a lot of big media companies.

Hollywood Showdown: Blockbuster, Redbox Balk at Warner’s New Window

Warner Bros. wants to keep its DVDs out of the hands of renters for an extra month. Blockbuster and Redbox don’t want to play along.

Warner Brothers Will Make Netflix, Redbox, Blockbuster Wait Longer for New Movies

Want to watch a new movie just out on DVD from Warner Brothers? You’re going to have to buy it, or wait even longer to get it from Netflix or other disc renters.