BLOCKBUSTER LOOKING TO PARTNER WITH TELCO

BLOCKBUSTER LOOKING TO PARTNER WITH TELCO

While Netflix has been hurriedly making deals with makers of settop PC-to-TV converter boxes to deliver its movies to subscribers on line, rival Blockbuster indicated on Wednesday that it is taking a different tack -- looking for a telecommunications-company partner like AT&T or Verizon to deliver the movies. Blockbuster, which recently began selling its own settop box, also is looking to sell some of its brick-and-mortar stores overseas but retain the rights to distribute movies over the Internet in those countries, Blockbuster CEO Jim Keyes told the Citigroup Global Entertainment, Media and Telecommunications Conference in Phoenix on Wednesday. He estimated that the Internet movie-rental market would be worth $2 million by 2012.

08/01/2009