Blockbuster is feeling the love again in its love-hate relationship with the Internet, and this time I think the company is serious. The Hollywood Reporter says Blockbuster is making a set-top box for streaming movies to TVs, and could announce the service this month. The device would be tied to Movielink, the online movie service for PCs that Blockbuster bought last year.
It's an ambitious move for a company that has never figured out the Internet. Blockbuster has bumbled around while Netflix, Amazon, Microsoft, TiVo and others found ways to marry video and the Web. Blockbuster went guns blazing after Netflix two years ago, pouring money into its DVD-by-mail service before deciding to pull back and retrench.
Now, Blockbuster is making some smarter moves. For one thing, it's actually doing something with Movielink. And by offering a streaming box, it avoids the messy license and DRM issues that come with a downloading service. But Blockbuster faces some real problems, which may be why its stock price only rose less than 2% on the news today.
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