Personally, this is not exactly the greatest shock ever. Here in Canada, where services like Hulu and Netflix aren’t present, at least competitors like Rogers Video can be propped up by their larger media companies, or appeal to local urban cinephile demographics. Viacom (wisely) spun Blockbuster off on its own in 2004, after the start of its decline.

I’m curious to see who will paint this news as indicative of lax IP regulation and who will view it as merely another casualty of the economy. To me, it’s just one more business model that didn’t adjust quickly enough to technological and social change.

I actually went into a Blockbuster just the other day, but I was checking out the Wind Mobile kiosk. Granted, I’m not much of a movie buff, but it’s hard to see how renting–and returning!–a DVD for $4 is a better deal than buying it for $7…at the grocery store.

Read the article: Blockbuster Will Be Delisted After Proposals Fail (Wall Street Journal)