Will Blockbuster Be Apple TV's New Competitor?

April 10, 2008

Apple TV may soon have a new competitor — Blockbuster. Although nothing seems official yet, The Hollywood Reporter, PC World and other sources are reporting that Blockbuster is considering the idea of streaming video directly over broadband to TVs. Last year, Blockbuster acquired the company Movielink, an online rental service that allows consumers to watch major-studio movies streamed to PCs. Presumably Blockbuster will offer its new streaming video service through Movielink. Like Apple TV, the new Blockbuster service is expected to require a special set-top box. In the days when brick-and-mortar video stores were the only game in town, Blockbuster was the king of the movie rental marketplace, but now it appears to be trying to catch up to an ever-widening array of choices in the way people want to watch and rent movies.