Blockbuster suing rival Netflix in anti-trust claims

I like blockbusters better, that way I can also get my free in store rental too and drive around the corner to pick it up. So for the same price as netflix and my free in store rentals every week, I choose Blockbuster.

I DONT CARE FOR BLOCBUSTER AS MUCH I GET FOUR MOVIES AT A TIME I THINK BLOCBUSTER IS SUING NETFLIX BECAUSE THE COMPANY COULDNT MAKE NETFLIX DISSAPER LIKE THEY DID THEIR OTHER COMPETITION

That's exacty why Netflix is so Mad. Haterz!! They need to just make their price a little lower than Blockbusters or something to stay in the competion instead of all this legal nonsense.

Personally I think Netflix is better although the in-store 52 free rentals per year are nice. Blockbuster does seem to have a better selection of music as I've seen so far but their organization of movies is poor at best and they're affiliated with AMG, what a crap organization they are. Browse through Blockbuster's Movie Classic's section and you'll find mostly recent movies which some are just crap, you'll say how is this a classic? In summation Netflix is WAY BETTER. However I'm not for anyone having a monopoly and Netflix is out of line if they think they should be the only online movie provider.

Yeah but netflicks is trying to be the only game in town and that's the problem.It doesn't matter which is better. What matters is that we have the choice of any one we want and netflicks is trying to push out all it's competition with patents. No doubt block buster is not blameless so don't get me wrong.

Both have there pro's & con's.

They all sure have pros and cons, in one hand, i cant rent vgames from netflix to deside before buying them

Eh, netflix doesn't want a monopoly, just they were the ONLY ones planning this since 1998 (they launched in 1999). All their warehouses are nearly fully automated and they know what they're doing. I've had netflix for about 2 years, on the over all, I'm pretty happy with them. Great web interface, can share queues, can have family queues, and you get notifications when they receive the dvds.

I wish Blockbuster or Netflix would get into online Video Game rental market... Personally I found GameFly to be really slow at sending games ... I'd rather go to BB and get a game pass.. But if I could get Movies and Games by mail (Yes I know there are services that offer this but I don't care for them either) then it would be awesome... I've used both services both have their pro's and Con's ... but both are great online by mail rental services... Netflix tries to limit the amount of flix you can receive per month while Blockbuster you can get as many as you like they don't try and limit you on it...

I absolutlely hate blockbuster all of you who like them are insane!! :). I remember them charging enormous late fees and the cost of rentals kept going up they didnt care at all!! they put most of the competiton out of business and now they want to cry to us about thier problems??! screw blockbuster if netflix is doing better than blockbuster its for a reason stop whining and fix the problem(not by sueing). the only reason blockbuster got rid of latefees is because of netflix if netflix goes out of business blockbuster will go back to latefees because they suck! I hate going there they only have a few copies of good movies and tons of copies of the crap movies. I still rent there when its convient for me and i make sure to tell them i rent at netflix and i dont want a blockbuster account.they can keep thier in store rentals 52 a year i dont care i get more movies than i can watch thru netflix for 25 bux a month.I think many of you forget how horrible blockbuster was to everyone and how they kept having to give money back because they were overcharging people.blockbuster is so big they will use thier muscle to cheat netflix somehow because they are greedy,dirty,heartless scumbags!!! hope you enjoy my post ahhh weight lifted off my shoulders.:)

I have had both at once, stayed with Netflix, Blockbuster is just pissed of cause they arent worth shit, have a blockbuster up street and still dont like them, Netflix just has been at the game longer, although they still change price a little, will stay if if they dont

I too have tried both and I have to disagree with the comment about Netflix throttling back your rentals! I had a 3 at a time membership and I was often able to get 2 turn arounds a week with them. They always shipped me my queue in order. Did I say they always sent me my movies really quick. They processed my returns fast and I mean like 48 hours after I shipped them back they were sending me more! Now with Blockbuster they were quick to arrive ONCE they finally shipped them but no matter how I timed sending them back there was NO WAY they were going to let me get 2 sets of three movies a week...NO WAY! Also they always had my number one movie listed as available but suddenly on the day of shipping them it ALWAYS appeared as 'short wait'. And I am not talking NEW movies. This was like one disc from a season of Charmed and stuff like that! I never could figure out how a movie could be available while I couldn't have it and unavailable EVERY TIME I could??!! I felt it was a method of keeping my subscription active...kind of like "oh! Almost got what I REALLY wanted this last month... better pay again so I can get it next month..." NOT! It really isn't a hard concept. The whole process is computerized for crying out loud! All it requires is simple math (which PC's do VERY well!). If there are X numbers of copies of a particular disc and Y people have them in their queues and if Z being a subset of Y are people for whom this title is #1 exceeds the number of X then the title is UNAVAILABLE. No magic here or rocket science. And yes I know that Y and Z would change based upon who had max rentals out at a time and who didn't but come on after two weeks of ALWAYS seeing it become short wait EVERY TIME I had a slot open in my queue and for such an old title... Blockbuster can screw themselves... they already have as far as I'm concerned. Netflix is my choice. Though I hope that BlockBuster stays around to maintain my low cost for a Netflix subscription!

I worked for them for a long while. The suits and countersuits aren't anything to do with whether either one is stealing eachother's "Original Idea". That's the legal end. Blockbuster is a large, dumb company, that finally decided that Netflix, who has now been around a WHILE might actually be a threat to their business. (Can you say duh?) They'll sue, and countersue, and do it over again, until in a quiet boardroom, they come to an agreement. Ultimately, this is a pretty simple case, NF feels threatened by BB's online program. NF is the industry leader in online DVD rentals, whether you like them or not, this is fact. NF apparently figured that if they threw enough lawyers at this, they could finish BB, who is(And has been for the majority of the last decade, save a six month period after 'No Late Fees' was introduced) on it's last leg. That way, competition doesn't arise. Ironically, there was to be a deal many years ago, where BB would buy NF, who at the time was a small startup. BB tried it's own rental program online, and decided this was unprofitable, so did not purchase NF, who is now biting them in the rear. Ultimately, this case is much similar to age old "Touch and Feel" suit filed by Apple, against Microsoft. It's got some root, but really, NF has even less of a leg to stand on, because they didn't actually *design* the idea of online rentals, and neither did BB. So really, neither company can actually *win* sueing the other for this. BB's countersuit is more of a public show of strength, rather than anything else. When company A sues company B, if company B feels Company A is wrong, and that the case is blatantly wrong, company B files countersuit by default, simply to ward off what might be future hungry lawyers, etc. It's not going to go anywhere, one company will outlast the other, unless they merge, or something along those lines, and something tells me, that it's going to be whichever one figures out an efficient and simple online delivery system for broadband streaming movie content first. Because that's where all this is going, no one wants to have to drive to the store and deal with the lines on weekends, only to realize the movie they want is out; and no one wants to wait two or three days for a movie, we want it now. And whatever company becomes truly efficient at this first will be the emergent one. BB isn't the brightest company out there... At all. In fact, they're pretty much retarded. I say that, because I worked there, and spent a nice full time career hearing what random stupidity corporate offices were barking down to us peons on a daily basis. The company is circling the drain, and has been, and will hopefully get bought and liquidated soon.... Moviestar, anyone? As for NF, they've got a good thing going, but they're going to have to evolve to continue, and in some strange way, I don't know that they're any more likely to do so than the wonderful conglomerate of stupidity that is BB. Only time will tell. As for this suit, it's a big show for the world to see, each company is ultimately hoping to PR smash the other one through it; but the trouble is, these are just movie rental companies, no one's going to care if they get smashed in PR, or come out looking bad.

I don't know much about this but i believe there is better online services than Blockbuster so if your gonna do it online then i don't see why you would so with Blockbuster

duckNrun you obviously didn't have them long enough or push the envelope because they DO throttle you back, they'll tell you they don't the fact is they do. I've had them sit on a movie shipping to me many times where they say they are waiting for it to come in yet I have TONS of other selections for them to send me yet I wait for one movie, you do the math. Although abrasive I agree with punani about Blockbuster, he could have approached the issue a little more tactfully though.

maybe not, but I do know that for the time I had both it was ONLY blockbuster (from the get go) that had trouble getting my movies to me and didn't allow me to get more than 3 a week (on a 3 out plan) no matter how I timed the returns and what not. I kow that Netflix had that lawsuit saying the exact same thing you are but that was before I came onboard. As for BlockBuster all it took was a few weeks of not being able to max out my movies AND get what I wanted most (#1 in queue) that showed me that at least for them a store pass would be better than an online pass. Unfortunately I like the online deals because of the selection versus what they (and everyone) stocks in the stores. So maybe down the road I'll start getting throttled back by NF and if/when that happens I will do the same thing I did to BB... take my money elsewhere. Simple enough! What these stores need to do is give you the ability to order a rental off their catalog while in store. That would be the best of both worlds. No waiting for movies in the mail (except off of the ones on mail order). 100% of their selection 100% of the time. Of course the greedy suits will probably see it as lost revenue when people no longer have the 'incentive' to jeep paying for a store movie pass as well as the online membership as well... Maybe Hollywood Video needs to investigate this concept?

mr movies, I really dislike blockbuster as if you didnt know hehe but my post was more of a sarcastic post i was laughing as i wrote it,so even though it is the truth if was mostly juse me be sarcastic for my own self amusement :) I like hollywood video though.I have never had a problem with my netflix except couple broken dvds and they shipped me new ones or a scratched disc but people dont take care of the dvds so its not netflix fault. all i know is bb dont look to me for sympathy haha :)

Keep the d##$@m lawyers out of it and let the market decide. As fas as I'm concerned blockbuster has just been too slow at adapting to new technology, business practices, the market place and thought it would last for them always..............

I've also had problems with broken DVD's and they are really good about replacing them quickly. My one complaint there is their hokey way of handling problems online it can be difficult to send them issues unless it fits into a very small database of problems. I found calling them worked much better then email response the people replying don't understand what you are trying to convey to them and typically just send any old response back whether it makes sense or not. I would also like to see Hollywood video jump in we need more competition out there so prices lower and service improves or one would hope so.

I could not give a hoot for Blockbuster's claims. I have tried both at the same time and the turnaround time for Netflix was three days (mailbox out to mailbox in) while Blockbuster's was four, five, six; whenever they got around to it. If Netflix remains in business, which they certainly will given the competition, I will stick with them. Service is the only thing that counts with me and Netflix is head-and-shoulders above Blockbuster.

I use both NetFlix & Blckbuster, I also like Blockbuster better...I payNetFlix $5.999 a month for what ??? ( 1 more at a time, 2 max per month) .... Wheras with Blockbuster I pay $ 9.99 a month 3 at a time & 7 no restrictions as to how many, sometimes I can watch 12 a month, I also live a few blocks from post office & the distribution center is close plus I am within walking distance of local blockbuster store...It would be a shame for Blockbuster to go away, if anything NetFlix should go away !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

tycobb NF is doing a better job and cutting into BBs sales becuse of it insted of trying to compete BB is sueng 0-o I love how US biussness work >< lets not compete and be the big winner,lets sue then waste tons of money and then mabye merge after the lawyers drain us dry 0-o handsom nice post!

I have been dealing with both for a while, until blockbuster was starting to pull games at the counter. I really did not have one that close to my house and a couple times they tried to charge me late fees. I have been dealing with netflix close to 3 years now, and I have to say I NEVER had a situation with them. I find the avalbilty of films I like and the eposide discs are always in stock. I like the feature you can save a movie that is not even out yet in theathers, ie Spider Man 3. I have that movie in my save in queue. Blockbust was a pioneer in the day of store rentals. I thought they masterd that. In terms of mail, I think Netflix has a leg up on goliath.

I have had both at once, stayed with Netflix much faster and more selection for us. MUSIC ESPECIALLY But new releases are still tough to get if you are not right on top of your queue and blockbuster charging more for games is not a good idea since 16.99 for 3 out at a time including xbox 360 and ps3 titles and movies and and well we tried them all movies are very fast and 3 years now happy with netflix 1 year with Blockbuster and had to drop them took too long.

davidrose I know its stuip BB has everythign to make themselfs ALOT more appaeleing to gamers and moive watchers if they would remake thier limits to be more ike netflixs and combined games with Moives and sale them any 2 unlimited at 14.99 a month and go 5 up from extra they would have netflix beat becuse netflix only does moives....but BB is big and dumb....

Yeah,about "big and dumb" as Netflix throttling my movies b/c I returned them so fast.Netflix was ok until they pulled this stunt! Oh yea, the comment I got was that the accounts with lower rentals take priority over the large more active renters.Netflix can kiss my......well you probably know.This problem has Never happened with Blockbuster.I do however like Netflix's web site better,but it will do no good for them because I will NEVER use those mother truckers again! RSVP

rureadie no one siad Netfix was perfect :P

Okay, the throttling back thing, here's a newsflash on that: Both of them do it. It is not a matter of discussion, they both were sued, on independent(unconnected) basis by customers, because it was found they started doing it to 'high usage' customers, what NF qualified as a 'high usage' customer was never known, however, BB classified it as any online user who went through six titles or more. Since you get at least two at a time, that means that you switch three times and they throttle you back. Ironically, after being sued, neither company changed this policy, they simply changed their legal fine print terms to accomodate, and some members who had been on at these times received refunds, deals, etc. to compensate them for potential missed rentals. It's not just one of them, it's both. They simply have different definitions by which they decide it's time to cut back. And as far as the suit goes, it's ridiculous, BB feels threatened, and NF feels threatened. NF thought they could get away with sueing, because they are the biggest online rental co. out there. BB knows that won't win the case, and is simply filing a standard corporate countersuit. It's nothing unusual, to be honest. This sort of thing happens all the time. The thing that I think should be taken away from this, is the fact that both companies are clearly feeling a hit in business income, which is why they think that they're losing business to eachother. After working Blockbuster, I can honestly say that BB isn't taking a bit of business from NF. Not a dime. Maybe their online program, but it's a mess. Many titles are actually checked out FROM the STORES. That was a mess, I worked one of those stores, and it could not have been more disorganized, I was shocked their weren't a ton of problems with mismatched discs. Again, I don't know how long EITHER company will last as broadband becomes faster, and more affordable, it seems inevitable that we'll see new online pay-per-view type services with wider, more complete selections of films. Imagine being able to pay a monthly fee for access to an entire library of films new and old whenever you want them, instantly. That's where we're inevitably headed, the question is how soon technology will let us. This suit is one of the signs that both companies are finally starting to buckle, and I'm hoping to see BB fall first. Not because they're necessarily any worse than NF... But because after working there a while, you become rather synical towards them and their practices.

handsom it seems to me if BB changes thier throttel back picy alittle to mabye 5 or 8 times to what you rent ,added games at the same price as DVDs they would simpley squaish NF. oh well not change or die thats how the like it ><

I just cancelled my Blockbuster Onlne account. The straw that broke the camel's back was when they opened a new distribution center and assigned my account to it. Overnight everything in my queue went from available now to various stages of waiting. I had to add to an already adequate queue in order to have something in it that they could send me. The one movie at the top of my list was there for just about a year and except for a short period of time at Christmas always available... except to me. If they don't have it in the distribution center you are assigned to, it doesn't matter what the status of the movie is, you're not going to ever get it. I had both Netflix and Blockbuster and as far as I'm concerned, they both throttle. I haven't gotten more than 3 DVDs a week from either one of them in a dog's age. One thing positive about Blockbuster though is that they do ship the TV shows that are on 2 sided DVDs that way. Netflix ships "rental versions" in which Disk 1 for instance would be Side A of a disk you got from Blockbuster and Disk 2 would be the B side. Just one more way besides throttling to suck in the bucks.

Okay first off i work at BB for five years part-time here in Charlotte its BB fault that they didn't put up a fight in 98 when netflix lauched.BB said that online rental would not work because customer want there movies right now not later.BB kept preaching this until 2003 when they seen Netflix had growed as a company they realize they was wrong & dumb. So BB launch there own online service in 2004 QT4 3-moives for 19.95.If i was Netflix i would sue the hell out of BB because it was there idea not BB they shot this down in 98 i know because we had a few in store meeting about netflix and BB was not worry about them. Far as later fees the reason BB dont have them anymore because a TX couple filed a lawsuit against them in 2001 over the word later fee which to them mean not resposible.The couple said there was never late on anything in there life so that word was hurtful.Also there movie was not late it was found in the store on the shelf not checked in so this did not help BB in the lawsuit against them.The TX couple won the lawsuit from BB,But BB never told us how much the couple won but from what i heard from my DR manger they got over a Few million.And BB can never use the word Later fee so they call it extending viewing Fee now. Far as Netflix the only problem i have with them is you cant contact them directly & If its on the eve of them chargeing your creditcard they will not send your movies that day they will hold them til the next day.

DamonDash its a pain to get your Ccard bill date changed ypu ahve to cansel then resetup your account ><

Yeah i know what your talking about because last month i forgot to leave money on my pre-paid card so that shutdown my account.It was 13 days before i put money on my card then i hit renew and got screw out of half a month service.So from now on my friend told me to cancel and it will keep everything just renew it.

I have both services as well and I gotta say Netflix is the better of the two, period. Their turn around time is as fast as you can possibly get delivering something through the mail. I agree with everyone else here. If Netflix just went away ,which they probably won't blockbuster would go back to late fees. Blockbuster has done nothing but increase their prices over the years, they are the ones guilty of monopolistic conduct, they got to big and passed the price increases on to us, thanks for nothing blockbuster. Before netflix I would do anything to rent video through Hollywood video, 20/20 or the neighbrohood store before going to blockbuster to pay 5 bucks for a two day rental.

My experience with Blockbuster is the very reason I jumped at the chance to use Netflix, and I've been with Netflix for over 3 years now with no regrets. BB lost my business when they went nutty with late fees. Back in the day, there were many local video rental stores in my area, and it was always common practice that if you owed a late fee, you had to pay it off before you could rent another movie. That wasn't good enough for BB, who would routinely send postcards threating to take my account to collections if I did not pay that late fee RIGHT NOW (and I'm talking about $2 or $3 here). It seemed they were willing to spend several times the amount I owed them just to make sure I felt properly threatened. I always paid any fees I owed any video store before I rented again, of course, so I never understood why they felt the need to be so much more aggressive than anyone else in this regard. Then they started hiking their rental prices and late fees a little more every few months until it was just stupid to choose BB over the local stores. BB got so big they figured that they really didn't have to play nice, and that we would have no choice but to go to them. They put most of the "mom 'n pop" rental stores out of business across the country in an effort to do just this. HOWEVER, I must also say that Netflix was going down the path of raising their rates a bit every few months, since they had little competition. So I was very happy to see BB and others get into the online rental market because that forced Netflix to lower their prices again, and keep them low. So I do not want to see Netflix win their suit and become the only large online DVD rental service, as higher prices would inevitably follow. Robust competition is absolutely necessary.

There are ways of getting around Blockbuster and their shipping/throttling issues...

DamonDash I have paypal they jsut hit PP 1 month exsactly after I signed on,and if theresnot enough money it hits it up now and then to see if moeny is in not to abd sicne PP dosent hammer you with charge,sometimes I can get a extra week out of them *L*

I know everyone talks about the throttling and both companies have been sued but I must say that I have been very happy. I have had netflix for over 3 years, 3 at a time, and I have never gotten less than 16 rentals and sometimes get up to 23 in one month. I am a heavy user and for me it works great.

Netflix is the best! Period!!! When I joined them I thought it was a great deal. Since then they've lowered the price 3 times. Never had problems on an issue with a DVD. They were always prompt. My turnarounds were lightning fast as the mail goes. I would get about 24 movies a month. How do ya beat that without downloading movies online?

Netflix is sharp I emailed with a od payment it took 19 out of my Ccard and then fixed it within the same 24 hours. Netflix is not perfect but it is nice.

I agree with Mr. Movies. I had Netflix for years, at their highest fee of $48 for 8 DVD's, and I RARELY got a new release. My average wait for a new movie was 4-6 weeks, with some taking several months. They admitted to me in writing that they give preference for new releases to the econo-crowd that pays $9.95 per month. The older movies they did send me started to take about a week to arrive. Now I have Blockbuster at 29.95 per month for 5 DVDs at a time. I get ALMOST EVERY new release I request, and the only negative is that occasionally, one DVD will get lost in the mailing system for a week or more after they mail it to me. But that's rare, apparently not their fault, and far outweighed by the several free in-store rentals they give me every month. I would NEVER use Netflix again, even if they were the only online movie provider on the Interenet.

FJGallag I guess it all depends on what you pick I dont do new releases and am on 8 at a time and get all my moives in less than a week/5days.

I have tried both and blockbuster will send you a replacement as soon as you report a broken or lost dvd but netflix will not send you a replacement until they receive the damaged dvd,also you never get any new releases from netflix ,you only get junk. I have a few days left with netflix and I am dropping them and going to the video store to get my dvd's.Netflix could care less about their customers.

I received a broken disc in the mail and they sent me out a replacement right away.i find it hard to believe that netflix is going to make you wait for a dvd if they have a copy they will send it you.it doesnt benefit them to wait for the disk if they have for example 5 dvds of say matrix and 4 are rented out they have one left they will send it to you unless all of them are rented out,netflix is a big operation if you thnk they have the resources to monitor dvds or mointor each indivual dvd(which most companys arent that organized enough to even run thier business correctly)then you are giving them more credit than is due thay dont have the resources and thought process to do that imho. I think they just send you what they have, complain if you will but you can beat 4 dvds for 25 bux at a time as many as you can watch in a month its a great deal imho. regardless of who you go with either company offers a good deal but blockbuster has abused its customers for a long time and is only being nice now because of netflix thats why i dont care what they offer to me regardless of how good a deal it is.

nobody have to lie about any dvd service. RV have been at the number one spot in my que and it says available but I get a junk movie sent to me ,this have been going on for a long time,I guess I will never get RV.Also they make you wait days for a movie holding up sending you a replacement.Almost all of the good movies stay on waiting even the ones I select months in advance. I selected X-Men when it first came out in the movies now it have a date when it will be released but I would bet you I wont get it for three or four month after it's released. PLease if anyone know their telephone number please let me knowit, I really want to talk with them.

Believe it punani, Blockbuster sends out replacement disks, if you report that you haven't gotten the one they sent, right away. It's one of the few good things I could say about Blockbuster. Netflix makes you wait for several days after the expected arrival date before they will even accept a report of a missing disk. I believe they say that if you haven't received it within 6 days of the expected arrival date to then submit the report.
As for broken disks, Blockbuster will remove it from your queue as soon as you report it and it will show up again(usually within 24 hours) as soon as they mail out the replacement. With netflix I was told to send the disk back and they would replace it when they got it back.

I remember shipping out those discs from our store when I worked there. So many problems.......geez. We sent incorrect discs, cracked discs, damaged discs, you name it. The funniest part is, you could basically tell them anything you wanted to, and they wouldn't be able to track it or tell the difference. They are so disorganized that they have to take your word for it. I don't know how well organized netflix is behind the scenes, but BB is a mess.

I really don't think BB will see another decade. I say such a long estimate, because a company like that can coast on fumes for a while, with different companies buying them out and dumping them over and over. I do so like to watch though.

I've been a customer of Netflix for over 2 years, and when I saw Blockbuster's advertisement about the added plus of in-store rentals, I have to admit I was tempted to switch over. However, since blockbuster often doesn't stock certain movies (such as NC-17 and some "unrated" movies, something I didn't find out until recently), I decided to stick with Netflix. Even though it is their right to decide which movies they carry, I hate censorship.

Netflix has the plan price and selection I like BB not so much now if they can combine their movie and game selections into there plans IE 3 DVD or games mixed anyway you want for 20 a month with tax or even 23 a month with tax I would jump ship. probably be pissed at their movie selection tho...netflix needs to buy out gamefly and rule net renting forever more!

I dumped my Blockbuster online membership months ago and I can't say I'm sorry I did. I was slightly tempted when they changed to their new policy of being able to return the movies to the store and pick something else right away but then I used my brain. The reason I subscribed to the online service in the first place was because the storefronts didn't have the movies I was looking for. If they didn't have them then they sure aren't going to have them now, and then there's the matter of not being able to get the movies you want through the online service if they're not available in your local distribution center. When I cancelled I had a movie sitting at the top of my queue for a year and for most of the time it showed an "available now" status. Problem was that it wasn't available to ME. No telling where the copy or copies were located but one thing is for sure, they weren't going to ship one from where they were to where I am. I'm as happy as a clam with Netflix. If they have a copy of the movie you want it doesn't matter where it is. I've had movies come from clear across the country and it took a couple of days more to get them but I did in fact get them. I could ask for no more than that.

I noticed BB online is not as neat and detailed as NF 0-o this surprise's me,BB should do better than that...