General

Blockbuster Canada to close a third of its 400 stores

Fights to keep rights to its name

BlockBuster Canada could be closing as many as 140 of its 400 stores after it was forced into receivership earlier this month. The chain’s U.S. parent filed for bankruptcy last September after its business was decimated by the arrival of competitors like Netflix, which offers a DVD mail rental service to Americans and streams movies over the Internet to subscribers in both the U.S. and Canada. The parent company has since been sold to U.S. satellite dish company Dish Network. As part of the bankruptcy process, Blockbuster used the more profitable Canadian operations as a guarantee for it’s bigger U.S. business. But Blockbuster Canada failed to make the necessary payments on some $67 million worth of claims from movie distributors and other suppliers. Now the receiver is looking for buyers for Blockbuster Canada’s assets, while the company fights with it’s new U.S. owners about whether it can continue to license the Blockbuster name.

Canadian Press

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