Blockbuster Will File For Bankruptcy In September

The writing's been on the wall for years now that Blockbuster, the once-ubiquitous home video and DVD rental chain, was pretty much doomed. Not only do services like Netflix and Redbox make it easier to get your hands on DVDs, but DVDs are dying out anyway, replaced by digital downloads or online streaming. Most consumers have probably barely noticed as neighborhood Blockbuster chains have shuttered all over the country-- the one down the street from me closed just a few months ago-- but the studios who rely on the chain for rental profits have likely been dreading the inevitable. Now Blockbuster has taken the time to give them the first heads up-- according to The LA Times, Blockbuster has informed al the major studios that they'll be filing for bankruptcy this September.

The main reason they want to let the studios know ahead of time is so they'll keep supplying DVDs to the chain while they restructure nearly $1 billion in debt. The primary goal of the bankruptcy is to allow Blockbuster to bail on some of the more expensive leases for their stores-- the ones that haven't shut down, that is. They're also planning to expand further into rental kiosks like Redbox and even online distribution, though it's hard to know if that's a "too little, too late" situation.

It's easy to mock Blockbuster for being laughably behind the times, but having a valid competitor to Netflix is important, and it would be nice to have another option out there. Hopefully bankruptcy will be the opportunity they've needed to finally get their act together-- and hopefully the studios supporting them won't have just needlessly boarded a sinking ship.