Dish Network's 'puzzling' Blockbuster Video buy: 4 theories

The satellite TV provider snatches up the ailing, bankrupt video-rental chain at auction. The reaction is nearly unanimous: Huh?

A Dish Network worker assembles a satellite in Chicago: The country's second-largest satellite TV provider purchased bankrupt Blockbuster... but why?
(Image credit: Getty)

When the news broke that Dish Network agreed to pay $320 million for the bankrupt movie-rental company Blockbuster, many people's first reaction was: Why? "Blockbuster's business is a rapidly melting ice cube," warns Bernstein Research's Craig Moffett, in a typical assessment of the "strategically puzzling" deal. Still, the No. 2 U.S. satellite TV provider won a late-night auction for Blockbuster and "substantially all" of its assets, beating out at least three other bidders, including investor Carl Icahn and South Korea's SK Telecom. Dish says it won't shut Blockbuster's 1,700 brick-and-mortar stores, at least not yet. So, what will Dish do? Here, four theories:

1. Dish will take on Netflix

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us