Blockbuster, the No 1 video rental store chain in the United States, has withdrawn its lowest online-subscription price and is testing a program to allow its online subscribers to exchange DVDs at company stores as well as by mail.
Blockbuster, which has waged a price-cutting war against Netflix and others, decided to end a test plan of $5.99-per-month online subscriptions that allowed customers two DVDs per month, one out at a time. It had touted the plan as matching the lowest-price plan offered by Netflix.
Spokesman Randy Hargrove declined to give the reason for ending the plan.
Blockbuster’s lowest-price nationally available plan is now $7.99 per month for three rentals per month, with one DVD out at a time.
The company also is allowing online customers in Colorado Springs, Colo., and other markets to bring viewed DVDs back to area stores to exchange them rather than mailing them in to receive the next title in their online queues, Hargrove said.
WOW there’s someone there at BB that does have a brain…