Blockbuster to Offer Warner Bros. Movie Rentals Before Netflix

March 22, 2010, 10:45 PM EDT

March 22 (Bloomberg) — Blockbuster Inc. reached a deal with Time Warner Inc. allowing the movie-rental company to keep offering titles earlier than rivals Netflix Inc. and Redbox.

Warner Bros. DVDs will be available for rental the day they go on sale, Dallas-based Blockbuster said today in a statement. Netflix, the mail-order movie-rental company, and Coinstar Inc.’s Redbox kiosks agreed to wait until almost a month after Warner Bros. begins selling DVDs.

the deal gives Blockbuster Chief Executive Officer James Keyes a 28-day head start over Redbox and Netflix, which have each taken customers from the largest video-rental company. Blockbuster, with $856 million in debt, will begin renting “The Blind Side” on March 23 in stores and by mail. NCR Corp. kiosks that use Blockbuster’s name will delay rentals for 28 days.

“The studios appreciate that we are the only business that has the ability to offer cross channels,” Keyes said in an interview. “That enables us to give consumers access to movies when they want it and where they want it.”

Blockbuster said last week that it’s in talks with Hollywood studios to reduce the cost of DVDs and said that a debt exchange or other strategies may require the company to file for bankruptcy.

Blockbuster rose 1 percent to 32 cents today in new York Stock Exchange composite trading. the shares have fallen 52 percent this year.

Coinstar, based in Bellevue, Washington, rose 19 cents to $32.81 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Netflix, based in Los Gatos, California, gained $2.44, or 3.5 percent, to $72.89 and has added 32 percent this year.

–Editors: Anthony Palazzo, Nick Turner

To contact the reporter on this story: Adam Satariano in San Francisco at asatariano1@bloomberg.net Ronald Grover in Los Angeles at rgrover5@bloomberg.net;

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Anthony Palazzo at apalazzo@bloomberg.net

Blockbuster to Offer Warner Bros. Movie Rentals Before Netflix


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