Blockbuster Expands Monthly Subscriptions
Video rental giant Blockbuster Inc. is going national with a monthly subscription plan that lets customers rent an unlimited number of movies and keep two or three at a time without running up late fees.
Blockbuster will charge $24.99 a month for customers to keep two movies out and $29.99 to keep three titles.
Analysts said the Movie Pass promotion was designed to prevent more Blockbuster customers from defecting to Los Gatos, Calif.-based Netflix. About 2 million people have signed up for Netflix’s all-you-can-watch service -- for $21.99 a month, they can get as many as three DVDs at a time through the mail.
Blockbuster is expected to add an online reservation feature and mail delivery to its plan this year.
Shares of Dallas-based Blockbuster, a unit of Viacom Inc., gained 57 cents to $15.68 on the NYSE.
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