Dish Network Wins Blockbuster Auction

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Charlie Ergen’s Dish Network Corp. outbid investor Carl Icahn and at least two others in a bankruptcy auction to purchase Blockbuster Inc. for about $320 million, Reuters reported April 6.

Dish Network, the second-largest U.S. satellite television company after DirecTV, said the Blockbuster acquisition will give it new ways to market its services. Analysts said it could use the one-time video rental giant’s online business as a base for delivering movies.

Dish expects to pay about $228 million in cash to acquire Blockbuster and its more than 1,700 stores. The money will go toward paying off the company’s creditors, including Icahn and movie studios, who are owed more than a combined $1 billion.

 

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Dish Network to Keep 600 Blockbuster Stores Open

But the news means another 1,000 stores could be closing soon.

Dish Network, which recent won approval from a bankruptcy court judge to acquire Blockbuster for $320 million, plan to keep 600 of the movie-rental chain's stores open, the Dallas Morning News reported.

The satellite TV provider said in a Saturday filing with the U.S. bankruptcy court in New York that it will assume leases on about 600 stories.

But the company currently operates just over 1,700 U.S. stores, meaning that more than 1,000 could be closing soon.

Dish has yet to reveal its full plans for Blockbuster.

The acquisition is expected to close Thursday.