Dish's Blockbuster Stores Lower Film Rental Prices

NEW YORK - With Hollywood kicking off the summer movie season this weekend, satellite TV giant Dish Network on Friday unveiled new prices for in-store rentals at Blockbuster, the video rental company it recently acquired, and a special limited-time promotion.

Thousands of movies will be available in stores for rental for only 99 cents per day, starting Friday, the company said.

Blockbuster is also launching new single-day rental prices instead of the previous three-day rental period for $4.99. Just released movies will be priced at $2.99 for the first day, while other new releases will cost $1.99 for the first day. Additional rental days for all movies are priced at 99 cents per day, the firm said.

The low rental prices mirror Dish's traditional focus on consumers looking for lower-cost pay TV packages.

“Our customers are seeking a better value - we’ve answered with new pricing and the flexibility of single day rentals,” said Michael Kelly, president of Blockbuster. “Our new pricing gives our customers the best of both worlds: access to the latest releases – many 28 days before Netflix and Redbox – and the most movies at low prices.”

Kicking off the summer movie season, Blockbuster also announced a promotion that allows customers to get unlimited additional movie rentals in Blockbuster stores through July 4.

When customers rent a movie priced at $2.99, they can rent another movie priced at $1.99 or less free for the first day. When finished watching that free movie rental, customers can return an unlimited number of times to get another one-day rental priced at $1.99 or less – again for free.

The new prices and promotions are offered at participating Blockbuster stores.

“Our movie experts are ready in more than 1,700 Blockbuster stores nationwide to give customers the greatest value and widest selection of movies, TV shows and games,” said Kelly.
 

Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com

Twitter: @georgszalai