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# Reel deal; Movielink is bought
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/reel-deal-movielink-is-bought/
- Published: 2007-08-10T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T02:33:06.000Z
- Author: Melody Hanatani
- Tags: Entertainment, Mid-City, #archive-import

*Blockbuster tries to compete with Netflix*

MID-CITY One of the largest movie rental powerhouses, Blockbuster Inc., announced this week it has acquired a Santa Monica-based online movie down-loading firm, strengthening its presence in the increasingly competitive home entertainment market.

The move to purchase Movielink LLC gives Blockbuster access to thousands of movies and television shows available in a digital format for downloading, heating up its rivalry with DVD rental juggernaut Netflix.

The terms of the agreement were not disclosed as of Thursday.

Movielink services allows users to instantly download movies — starting at $1.99 — directly onto their computer.

The company, located on the 2100 block of Colorado Avenue, was founded in 2002 by five movie houses — MGM, Paramount, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros. and Universal Pictures — helping to deter illegal down-loading. A representative for Movielink could not be reached for comment.

Blockbuster plans to continue operating Movielink as it currently stands and will gradually transition elements of the service onto Blockbuster.com, Karen Raskopf, a spokeswoman for Blockbuster Inc. said on Thursday.

The rental DVD market heated up in the late 1990s with the emergence of Netflix, a service where subscribers can receive and return a fixed number of movies through the mail at a set price. Growing to more than one million subscribers in its first four years, and currently with 6.3 million subscribers, Los Gatos-based Netflix currently offers more than 80,000 titles.

“Netflix continues to be the greatest convenient selection and value for consumers... wanting to rent movies online,”

Steve Swasey, a spokesman for Netflix, said on Thursday.

Dallas-based Blockbuster, which operates more than 8,000 stores worldwide, punched back in 2004, rolling out a similar mail service with 70,000 available titles. The long-time rental chain used its stores as an advantage, offering a bonus to its subscribers who, rather than waiting for a movie to arrive in the mail, could just drive to their local Blockbuster and grab a new one.

Netflix offers a competing product to Movielink, where its subscribers could instantly view more than 4,000 available selections on their computers without downloading, Swasey said.

It has yet to be discussed whether Blockbuster will continue to maintain Movielink’s Santa Monica location and whether it will change the current pricing structure for download, Raskopf said.

The idea of watching movies online seemed appealing to Fanny Franklin of Santa Monica, who was checking out a few DVDs at the Blockbuster on Lincoln Boulevard on Thursday.

Since she lives so close to Blockbuster, Franklin said she doesn’t subscribe to the company’s mail-in service, adding that she wouldn’t have the patience to wait for snail mail.

“I would (use Movielink) if I was computer savvy, but I’m not, really,” Franklin said. “But it seems like a good thing.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 10, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/081007.pdf?ref=smdp.com)