Dish, Blockbuster Take Aim at Netflix

It's been a bad week for Netflix. Blockbuster and Dish Network only hope to make it worse.

The former brick-and-mortar video rental store is teaming up the satellite provider to make an announcement in Netflix's backyard.

Few specifics are known about what Dish and Blockbuster will unveil Friday in San Francisco but there are indications that it will have to do with streaming video.

In a event press release, the two companies used the words "A Stream Come True" to describe what was coming.

Blockbuster has been trying to reinvent itself since Redbox and Netflix changed the movie-renting game.

After shaking off the rust of bankruptcy, Blockbuster has followed the models of its rivals and put out its own supermarket kiosks and it began streaming movies and television shows online.

All of this at a time when the once invincible Netflix appears to be at its most vulnerable.

The Los Gatos-based company announced it could lose about 1 million customers because of a price hike that angered its base.

Then CEO Reed Hastings sent out a hasty letter to customers Monday apologizing for making a mistake about the pricing.

The company also announced it was splitting into two, separating its snail mail video operations from its streaming.

It could be worse for Netflix. It's not like its new division has a pot smoking Sesame Street puppet as its mascot. Wait.
 

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