Blockbuster Announces New Lower Priced Subscription Plans for Online Subscribers

By: Blockbuster Video | 0 Shares 70 Reads

Company Sees Added Opportunity for Online Growth; New BLOCKBUSTER By Mail Plans Start as Low as $4.99 Per Month

DALLAS, June 12 // PRNewswire-FirstCall // -- Blockbuster Inc. (NYSE: BBI)(NYSE: BBI.B) today announced further enhancements to its online rental subscription service, giving new and existing subscribers the added choice of new lower-priced BLOCKBUSTER By Mail subscription plans that start as low as $4.99 a month. The new subscription plans are now available to all current and new subscribers to Blockbuster's online rental service. Included is the company's most popular three-out unlimited movie plan which will now be offered at $16.99 for BLOCKBUSTER By Mail subscribers.

"The online rental market is projected to increase 43% during 2007 and through BLOCKBUSTER Total Access™ and now BLOCKBUSTER By Mail, we intend to capture our share of that growth, broaden our customer base and remain the fastest growing online rental service in the marketplace," said Shane Evangelist, senior vice president and general manager of BLOCKBUSTER Online®. "Consumers have a choice and we're making it easier for them to rent movies in a way that best fits their lifestyle -- whether that's through our stores or by mail through BLOCKBUSTER Total Access and BLOCKBUSTER By Mail."

Through BLOCKBUSTER By Mail, subscribers can return online rentals by either mailing them back themselves or dropping them off at a participating BLOCKBUSTER® store where the store check-in process will automatically initiate the process of shipping of the next available movie(s) in the subscriber's rental queue. This will allow subscribers to generally get their online movie(s) a day faster than if they had dropped the return movies in the mail themselves. Movies returned to a store cannot be exchanged for the free in-store movie rentals available to BLOCKBUSTER Total Access subscribers, but BLOCKBUSTER By Mail subscribers will receive a coupon good for one free in-store movie or game rental per month. In-store movies and games rented are still subject to store rental terms, including due dates, and must be returned to the store from which they were rented.

"While we believe BLOCKBUSTER Total Access offers the best value in the marketplace, we recognize some consumers may not live near a store or aren't interested in taking advantage of the free in-store rentals they can get through BLOCKBUSTER Total Access," Evangelist said. "If this group is considering an online service or already subscribes to an online service, we're now giving them another reason to choose Blockbuster over our largest competitor."

Consumers can log on to http://www.blockbuster.com/ to sign up for a free two-week trial of either BLOCKBUSTER Total Access or BLOCKBUSTER By Mail.

With more than 70,000 titles to choose from online, Blockbuster delivers DVDs right to subscribers' mailboxes in pre-paid postage return envelopes. There are no due dates or late fees with movies rented from Blockbuster's online rental service.

About BLOCKBUSTER Total Access

BLOCKBUSTER Total Access subscribers have the option of returning their online rental DVDs through the mail or exchanging them at more than 5,000 participating BLOCKBUSTER® stores for free in-store movie rentals. When subscribers return their online rentals to a participating store, the store check-in process automatically initiates the process of shipping of the next available movie(s) in the subscriber's rental queue, whether they take advantage of the in-store exchange or not. That means BLOCKBUSTER Total Access members generally will get their online movie(s) a day faster than if they had dropped the return movies in the mail themselves. BLOCKBUSTER Total Access subscription plans start as low as $5.99 a month, with the $17.99 three-out unlimited movie plan being the most popular. All subscription plans also include a coupon good for one free in-store movie or game rental per month.

As of April 1, 2007, the Company had approximately 3 million total BLOCKBUSTER Total Access subscribers, including approximately 2.8 million paying subscribers.