He closed another store, too. Blockbuster had about a 25 percent share of the video rental market nationwide in 1997, the suit said. By 1999, its share was 32 percent. Blockbuster gets new releases with no or minimal up-front cost, the suit alleges, and could make deferred payments in the form of a share or split of the revenue generated by video rentals. And the studios allegedly allowed Blockbuster to sell tapes with no or nominal payments to the studios.
New movies are a video store's most popular rentals.
Blockbuster's deals with the studio allegedly let it stock new movies in huge quantities. Initially, the group had to pay its attorneys up front, but now the video store owners have six law firms representing them on contingency. We're just looking for some justice here. In Davis, Merchant is surviving because he has a niche market. His store has a 15,000-piece inventory, including 1,500 foreign films.