Put the crack pipe down, Robert (Score 1)

There's no way Apple would hang a millstone like Blockbuster around its neck. It's a company on the way down, without the means to fund such a boondoggle. They've had to renegotiate credit in the last year to keep from defaulting on existing debt.

What's more, there are several reasons why studios would not play ball with such a scenario, primarily they are very paranoid about digital distribution of their catalogs. That's why Blockbuster's technically proven attempt at VOD died in 2000. Also, even if the DRM stumbling block was solved, all-new revenue sharing deals would need to be cut, and they would definitely not be in Blockbuster's favor. On top of that, most Blockbuster stores still transmit sales records to corporate via 56K modem. And try training your average Blockbuster store employee to maintain the infrastructure required for something like this.

If Apple wanted to do something like this, they could do it in their own stores, led by a CEO (Jobs) that has newly-minted Hollywood cred, and not a bungler (Antioco) who has managed to kill off most of the cash cows that have kept Blockbuster afloat.