You gotta love the folks at Blockbuster.
They effectively raised the price of their popular Total Access plan yesterday, but the press release they issued said they were providing (ahem) "expanded online subscription offerings."
Those expanded offerings include a whopping $7.00 a month rate hike for those of us who now enjoy unlimited online rentals (3 at a time), along with unlimited "free" in-store rentals each time we return a DVD to the store.
What they actually have done is limit the number of in-store exchanges you can make under that plan to five a month.
The plan still costs $17.99, but - we'll say it again - you're now limited to five in-store exchanges per month (although, presumably, you can still drop off all your online rentals off at the store, if you so choose.)
If you want what you used to have at a price of $17.99 monthly - unlimited online DVD rentals (3 at a time) with unlimited in-store exchanges - you'll now pay $24.99.
This "expanded online subscription offering" will now be called "Total Access Premium."
Hey, wasn't it just last month that Big Blue said that the ability to exchange rentals at their brick and mortar locations was worth about a dollar a month?
Back on June 12th, they dropped the price of their most popular plan to $16.99, but only for those uninterested in their chief competitive advantage over Netflix, the "free" in-store exchanges.
So if they lowered the price by a dollar when they took that aspect of the program away, why does it now cost seven bucks to restore the privilege?
Blockbuster also announced that they will now allow those customers enrolled in the "Blockbuster By Mail" program to return DVDs and exchange them in-store for $1.99 per rental. (The same fee will apply to non-premium Total Access subscribers who go over the five a month cap.)
Blockbuster reported more than a $34 million loss for the second quarter on Thursday, so some sort of belt tightening was expected to return the company to profitability.
Perhaps that's why we received word two days ago that Blockbuster will be suspending its affiliate program today. (As most of our readers know, we earn a small commission when you buy DVDs through one of the stores we link to on our site or when you sign up for online DVD rental. These advertiser/publisher agreements are known as "affiliate programs.")
So, expect those ubiquitous banners for Blockbuster to disappear from the web very quickly.
Frankly, we think it's a foolhardy decision... if you want to grow your subscriber base, the one thing you don't do is stop marketing.
Another "lipstick on a pig" change announced by Blockbuster is the ability for many customers to exchange their online movies for discounted in-store game rentals at more than 5,000 participating stores.
Here again, though, we're thinking this actually represents a reduction in benefits. Didn't the old plan provide a coupon for one free in-store game rental a month?
[Previously: Netflix Rolls The Dice, Reduces Price]
[Previously: In Blockbuster's Dictionary, Complimentary May Not Mean Free]
[Previously: Dollar Days At Blockbuster]
[Previously: Harry Potter and The Order of His Netflix Queue]
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