Satellite TV company Dish Network (NASDAQ:DISH) still hasn't said how or if it will integrate the Blockbuster video business it purchased in a bankruptcy sale in April into its own pay-TV offering, but it has taken what it sees as a first step to getting the company's bottom line back in the black.
Dish announced it's shelving Blockbuster's long-standard multi-day movie rental fee in favor of single-day pricing that will start at $2.99 and cost customers an additional 99 cents per day thereafter. Blockbuster used to charge $4.99 for a three-day rental.
The move is seen as an effort to better position it against movie rental firm Redbox, which charges 99 cents a day for rentals from its multitude of free-standing kiosks.
The $2.99 first-day rental allows it to rollout new releases on the same day they go on sale.
Dish paid $320 million for Blockbuster in April, and it has been slow to reveal what it has planned for the former segment leader and slow to close many of the 1,700 retail outlets it acquired in the deal. Conventional wisdom has the satellite TV company launching a Netflix-like offering soon.
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