Dish Network picks up over 500 Blockbuster location leases
According to the AP, "Dish filed papers with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court Southern District of New York on Saturday indicating it has agreed to assume about 500 leases." That's out of approximately 1,700 former Blockbuster locations nationwide.
As to what's going to go inside these locations, that still remains a huge question. So far, the only obvious win for Dish in this deal is picking up Blockbuster's old Internet streaming rights. But as for the stores? Those retail locations were what separated Blockbuster as the old dinosaur from the more current style of renting via mail or online like Netflix. (Not to mention just streaming directly from Hulu Plus or a particular network's website.)
These stores could serve as offices or even brick-and-mortar locations for Dish Network (perhaps like a mobile phone store), but the latter seems rather unnecessary.
The deal in its entirety is expected to close Thursday, so Dish could reveal its plans soon after that.
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