BLOCKBUSTER EXPRESS EXPANDS SALES OF DVD’S

Further demonstrating its independence from the rental company with which it shares its name, NCR’s Blockbuster Express said Monday that it plans to expand the ability of its kiosks to sell movies to customers as well as rent them. It said that it is also negotiating deals with studios that will allow it to rent movies to customers at a premium price at the same time they go on sale in stores. (Some studios refuse to provide DVDs to kiosk and online rental operators until 28 days after they are released.) “We needed … to explore other opportunities with the studios … as we want to be able to use our automated retail stores for sellthrough,” NCR executive John Bruno told Home Media magazine. He also noted that the company is planning to increase the number of kiosks at which customers can insert a memory stick or an SD card and quickly download movies for viewing on portable media players. Blockbuster Express operates independently from the Blockbuster rental stores, which recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.