Dish Network to close 300 US Blockbuster DVD rental stores
23 Jan 2013
Dish Network Corp, the second- largest satellite-TV provider in the US, yesterday said that it will close 300 Blockbuster DVD rental stores in the US in the coming weeks, that would lead to 3,000 job losses.
The move comes days after administrators of its UK unit approved plans to close 129 of its 528 stores in the coming weeks leading to 760 job cuts.
The job cuts represent about 40 per cent of Blockbuster's US workforce of 7,300 people and comes a year after it closed about 500 underperforming stores in the US.
The move also comes in the same week when video game maker Atari's US unit filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in order to separate from its debt-laden French parent company.
Englewood, Colorado-based Dish, which early this month launched an unsolicited $2.28-billion bid for wireless broadband provider Clearwire Corp, trumping an offer from Sprint Nextel Corp, had acquired the failed Blockbuster LLC video rental chain in a bankruptcy auction in 2011 for $320 million.
Dish, controlled by billionaire founder Charlie Ergen, has been facing stiff competition from online retailers like Amazon.Com and other sites like Apple's iTunes.