The Wall Street Journal reports that the slow-motion train wreck that was Movielink has finally come screeching to a halt:
Movie-rental chain Blockbuster Inc. secured a foothold in the small but potentially significant online movie downloading business by acquiring Movielink LLC, a downloading service owned by the major Hollywood studios.
After several months of talks, first reported in March, Blockbuster said late yesterday it had acquired Movielink from the studios for undisclosed terms. The Wall Street Journal had reported in March that the price was said to be less than $50 million, although the final deal was less than $20 million, said a person familiar with the situation.
This looks even worse for the studios when you consider that, according to Ars, the studios have sunk more than $100 million into the company over the last five years.
I can’t say I’m surprised. As I’ve argued here before, the service was over-priced, low quality, and so crippled with DRM that they were dramatically less useful than DVDs. Is it any wonder few consumers jumped on board?
I really hope Blockbuster is buying MovieLink for the customers or the relationship with the studios. Because they certainly can live without MovieLink’s technology.
The Technology Liberation Front is the tech policy blog dedicated to keeping politicians' hands off the 'net and everything else related to technology.