Dish Network

Dish Network

The Blockbuster franchise will indeed live on, albeit in much more subdued capacity. The beleaguered movie rental chain's soon-to-be owner, Dish Network, plans toassume the leases on more than 500 Blockbuster stores upon final completion of its acquisition, which is expected to close within the next few business days. However, this also means that the other 1,200 or so remaining leases will most likely not be picked up.
Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy in September of last year after taking a beating from Netflix and other competitors in the movie rental space. The company was operating more than 5,700 U.S. stores in its heyday, but entered bankruptcy with only around 3,200 active locations. The 1,751 stores that Blockbuster currently has its name on will soon be paired down even further.
Dish Network won a bid to buy Blockbuster out of bankruptcy court earlier this month for $320.6 million, including $228 million in cash. It remained unclear what the satellite provider would do with the stores until its Saturday filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York, where it issued the list of stores that it would hold on to.
Dallas-based Blockbuster noted in court papers that it reserves the right to add or subtract from the stores that it listed in its initial filing, according to the Wall Street Journal.
It is still unclear what Dish Network's exact plans are for the struggling franchise. Upon winning the bid in early April, the satellite provider did express interest in the stores. Some of the losing bidders suggested that they would liquidate the franchise entirely, according to The Dallas Morning News.
People close to situation have told various media outlets that Dish Network may use the Blockbuster brand and its assets to create a digital streaming service that would rival Netflix. The company also said previously that it could use the acquisition to help cross-market its satellite services to Blockbuster customers.