Nov 17, 2010 (The Dallas Morning News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Banking on life after bankruptcy, Blockbuster Inc. said Tuesday that it will spend as much as $20 million over the next six weeks to buy spots on national network and cable television. Beginning with Monday's Dancing With the Stars finale on ABC, Blockbuster will broadcast ads that tout its exclusive deals with some Hollywood studios to rent new-release DVD movies for 28 days before its competitors.
With the tagline "Less Waiting. More Watching," the ads show people in everyday situations being told they must wait 28 days.
It will be the first time since 2007 that the Dallas-based company, which has been operating in bankruptcy since September, has advertised nationally.
Blockbuster's commercials will run through Dec. 27 and will also appear on other high-profile programming, including CBS and Fox NFL games on Thanksgiving Day and Late Night With David Letterman.
The ads also will promote Blockbuster as a "multi-channel entertainment provider," said spokeswoman Patty Sullivan. Blockbuster operates 3,000 stores and also rents DVDs by mail and from 700 Blockbuster Express kiosks operated by NCR Corp. Its Blockbuster On Demand service is available on dozens of devices, including TVs, DVRs and smart phones.
Cash-strapped Blockbuster wasn't able to promote its 28-day advantage when it started in March with box office hits such as The Blind Side and followed with Sherlock Holmes, It's Complicated and Avatar.
The advertising expense had to first be approved by the company's senior secure debt holders and later presented to the bankruptcy court as part of a bigger budget of expenditures.
A debt-holder group led by former shareholder and director Carl Icahn will end up owning Blockbuster as part of a pre-planned bankruptcy reorganization that wipes out most of its $1 billion in debt. It is scheduled to exit bankruptcy in the spring.
"They [debt holders] know we need to do this and are supportive," Sullivan said.
Euro RSCG Discovery in Chicago developed the spots, which have been tested in Charlotte, N.C., and Reno, Nev.
To see more of The Dallas Morning News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.dallasnews.com/. Copyright (c) 2010, The Dallas Morning News Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit http://www.mctinfoservices.com/.Maria Halkias
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