DVDs at your Door

Is it Blockbuster or Netflix for your next movie rental?

By Joseph Gidjunis, KRT Campus

After decades of driving to the local rental store and hoping your movie is in stock, a popular alternative has arrived.

Netflix, with more than 15,000 DVD movie titles, links more than 20 nationwide distribution centers with its Internet Web site to provide 1.5 million subscribers with movie rentals without late fees.

On the typical plan, a subscriber can rent up to three DVD movies at a time and keep them as long as he or she likes for $19.95 per month. The movies arrive by first class mail, usually within one or two business days, and subscribers return the movie using the same envelope the movie came in. All postage is paid by Netflix, and after the company receives the returned movie, it sends the next one from the subscriber’s online queue.

While Netflix offers the convenience of never leaving your home to rent a movie, Blockbuster spokesperson Randy Hargrove said your local video store offers immediate gratification.

The traditional rental at Blockbuster Video is about $4 for a two-day new release; $3 for a weeklong non-new release. Late fees apply.

But to compete with the no late fees, Blockbuster initiated a program in 20 percent of its stores called the Movie Freedom Pass. For a charge of about $25, subscribers could rent two or three movies at a time and bring them back when they want. Blockbuster hopes to expand the service nationwide later in the year, Hargrove said.

He added that all of their stores already use the guaranteed-in-stock program that gives customers a free rental of a new release if it is not in stock. Blockbuster also offers the $20 Game Subscription Pass that allows unlimited game system rentals for a month, one rental at a time.

With more than 48 million customers in the United States, Blockbuster is the leader in the market, but Netflix hopes to reach five million customers by 2007. In 2003 alone, subscriptions increased by nearly 75 percent to 1.5 million.

At both www.netflix.com and www.blockbuster.com, customers can check to see if the film title they want is in stock, either at a warehouse or at a local store. Both sites also offer reviews and detailed movie information. Later this year, Blockbuster plans to integrate more Internet features with in-store features so customers can choose to rent movies at the store or online, Hargrove said.