Blockbuster prepping its own TV set-top box: Report

Surprise, surprise: Seems that Blockbuster is hard at work on a set-top box that would stream movies directly to your TV. My question to Blockbuster: What took you so long?

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the movie rental giant is working on a stand-alone set-top box that would tie in with Movielink, the online movie service that Blockbuster snapped up last August. An announcement could come as early as this month, the story says. (No word on HD, in case you were wondering.)

The Blockbuster box would compete with existing set-top boxes like Apple TV and Vudu; meanwhile, we’re still waiting for movies-by-mail king Netflix, which announced plans to stream movies over LG HDTVs and disc players, to crank out its own TV set-top device.

The Hollywood Reporter story goes on to say that Blockbuster is also in talks with handset makers about delivering digital movies to phones.

For its part, Blockbuster won’t confirm the report, but it’s not denying it either.

Frankly, I’m amazed that Blockbuster (and Netflix, for that matter) is taking so long to come out with a set-top box. As the Hollywood Reporter points out, Blockbuster has access to about 6,000 online movies thanks to the Movielink deal.

Of course, when it comes to digital movie downloads, clearing the rights to distribute the titles is usually much trickier than clearing the technology hurdles. For example, Blockbuster might have the right to stream its 6,000 Movielink titles over PCs, but (maybe) not through set-top boxes.

It’s also interesting to note that Blockbuster’s apparently working on a stand-alone set-top box, while Netflix is looking to embed its technology in TVs, disc players, and even game consoles (although Netflix hasn’t ruled out a stand-alone device).

Now here’s a crazy idea for Blockbuster: Once your set-top boxes are ready, hand ‘em out for free (either that, or charge a couple hundred for the box, but allow unlimited free movie streaming).

Related:
Blockbuster eyes streaming to TVs [The Hollywood Reporter, via Engadget HD]