Technology changes rapidly, but the way we watch videos does not.
Last, week the company that owns Blockbuster said it would close an additional 300 stores and layoff about 3,000 people. What’s amazing is that there are still Blockbuster stores to close. Do people still drive to the store to watch movies?
Blockbuster filed bankruptcy in 2010 and satellite company Dish Network purchased the chain out of bankruptcy court with plans to somehow keep it going.
There were about 5,700 Blockbuster stores as recently as 2005. With Dish’s latest announcement it will be down to about 500.
On another front last week, Netflix made a surprise announcement that it added 5.8 million customers for online streaming accounts that go for $8 a month. In 2011, Netflix made a sudden and unpopular move to separate its mail-order DVD from its streaming business, spawning a mass exodus of customers.
People still like getting DVDs the old-fashioned way: In the mail.
News that Netflix is beginning to recover from this sent its stock up more than 40% in a single day last week.
Click here to read my column in The Sunday Wall Street Journal. And click here to watch me talk about it with Matt Flener, anchor of Denver’s NBC affiliate, 9News.
