Blockbuster: We might go out of business
Blockbuster has expressed "substantial doubt" that it will be able to stay in business unless it receives a $250 million loan, according to an SEC filing. The loan is subject to conditions which the company cannot guarantee it will meet by the May deadline.
From the filing:
The risk that we may not successfully complete this refinancing and obtain the related amendment of certain financial covenants included therein, and/or the risk that we may not have adequate liquidity…raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.
The takeaway: If you're considering signing on to a movie-subscription service, Blockbuster's troubles give more reason than ever to favor Netflix over the competing Blockbuster Total Access. While the Blockbuster service offers the ability to supplement Internet-ordered movies with those from brick-and-mortar store (though the terms for such exchanges were recently downgraded), and slightly cheaper rates for Blu-ray titles, it otherwise offers few other pluses, as our Ratings of movie services show (available to subscribers). And you might also want to press pause if you were considering getting a TiVo unit on the basis of Blockbuster's recent announcement of a deal to bring their movies-on-demand service to those set-top recording boxes. For more, check our overview of getting movies at home.
Previous
