Blockbuster, the popular video rental chain, has announced that starting this week, they will offer Blu-ray rentals and sales in all of their corporate locations, in both the US and Canada. Previously, Blockbuster only offered Blu-ray in about 1,700 stores nationwide, but with this new announcement, that number will increase to nearly 5,000 retail outlets.
At each of the locations, Blockbuster will install a Blu-ray kiosks that feature a 42 inch high definition TV displaying Blu-ray movies via a
Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3). This will help drive the fact that if a consumer owns a PS3, they also own a very capable (in some instance, the most capable) Blu-ray player.
David Podeschi, Blockbuster Senior Vice President, Merchandising, Distribution and Logistics commented, "Blockbuster was the first national retailer to accurately recognize and react to consumers' preference for this format when we added Blu-ray discs to a large percentage of our stores last summer. Now, with this national rollout, we believe Blockbuster is perfectly positioned to drive consumer adoption of this next generation DVD format and to become the customer's headquarters when it comes to renting or buying Blu-ray movies, whether in-store or online."
Blockbuster will also support their local franchises by offering up support for adding Blu-ray to their locations.