Rumours emerge of Blockbuster developing set-top box to stream movies

April 11, 2008 – Rumours have emerged that video rental giant Blockbuster is preparing to launch a Web TV set-top box that would allow consumers to streams films to their living room TV without visiting a bricks and mortar store.

Details of the initiative are expected to be announced this month, and it is predicted to be an offshoot of Movielink, the online film service which Blockbuster acquired last year that allows consumers to watch films licensed from major studios on their PC.  Such a venture would bring it into competition with Apple TV, the TiVo Unboxed service from Amazon.com and Netflix’s joint project with LG to develop a similar product.

Responding to the rumours, a Blockbuster spokesperson said: “We’re talking to numerous companies and vendors about products, services, alliances and initiatives that can help us achieve our mission to transform Blockbuster into a company that provides access to media content across multiple channels – from our stores, by mail, through kiosks, through downloading, through portable content-enabled devices – so it’s not surprising that there are rumours out there.”