Dish Network has opened up it’s massive wallet today and announced that it will be acquiring Blockbuster for $228 million. The satellite provider participated in a bankruptcy court auction for Blockbuster, with a winning bid of $320 million. After some adjustments for cash and inventory, the companies both agreed on the final price.

So Blockbuster will continue in some form, we just aren’t sure what Dish’s plans are for it at this time. Who knows, maybe they will try to take on Netflix, though that might be futile.

Blockbuster has confirmed that its Express kiosks will have to wait 28 days before getting new movies from Warner Bros. to rent, even though they have recently tested same-day launches. The company made the move in an effort to have closer contact with Warner Bros. and to lower distribution costs.

The company already has similar deals with Fox and Universal. This news means that Blockbuster’s kiosks are now in the same position as Netflix, which also is restricted by the 28 day wait to ensure access to major titles for physical rentals and online streaming.

Poor Blockbuster will try anything to keep up with Netflix. With movie studios keeping new release DVDs and Blu-ray discs out of instant rentals for 28 days after release, Blockbuster has come up with a way to hopefully bolster DVD/BD sales.

Some studios have relaxed those terms a bit as the DVDs for Warner Bros’ Inception and 20th Century Fox’s Knight and Day are being offered by NCR’s Blockbuster Express kiosks, rented for a $2.99/night rate. Will it pay off?

We’ve been expecting this one for a long time and now it’s official. Blockbuster has initiated “pre-arranged” chapter 11 proceedings. Under this plan, Blockbuster’s debt would be reduced from $1 billion to about $100 million when implemented.

Blockbuster is currently evaluating its US store portfolio as part of the recapitalization process. All 3,000 stores will remain open for now, but up to 1,000 could be gone before things are said and done. They want you to know that Blockbuster is still open and that it’s business as usual during the restructuring.

Blockbuster is still trying hard to catch up with other services despite lagging far behind. Their latest trick? If you’re receiving your Blockbuster movies by snail mail you’ll soon be able to open your mailbox and find Xbox, PlayStation, and Wii games as well.

As usual for Blockbuster this is too little, too late. But if you are interested and have a Blockbuster account, go for it.

In an effort to unsettle Netflix, Blockbuster and Comcast have teamed up to offer their new service, which is called DVDs By Mail. This is basically a discounted Blockbuster Online subscription for Comcast customers.

The site’s only advantage is discounted pricing for existing Comcast subscribers with a Double or Triple Play package. If you log in to your Comcast account it looks like you will be greeted with a dollar off Blockbuster’s most basic, one disc at a time plan ($7.99 versus $8.99). All other options are priced as they would be for a non-Comcast customer.

Philips Blu-ray players will now be shipping with BLOCKBUSTER On Demand, offering another way for Blockbuster to offer consumers instant access to the latest movies. It will work with the Philips 5320 and 7320 Blu-ray models.

They are a little late to the party on this one and we don’t see them knocking Netflix down anytime soon. Most of us already have a PS3, after all. But if this catches your movie viewing fancy, the On Demand service offers comprehensive on-screen search and browsing capabilities, as well as full details, ratings, trailers and additional information concerning each movie.

The new Philips / Funai combo P&F is promising good looks and green habits with its stylish Eco TV series. The 4000, 5000 and 7000 series climb to be exact. 2010 sees the introduction of Netflix streaming, internet radio and Blockbuster Video On Demand on some models and HDMI 1.4 jacks on the 7000 models.

For once we have some prices and release dates for these guys right from the get-go, which is a big plus. Hit up the link below for the full rundown. The prices aren’t bad at all and te wait isn’t very long.

I went to the movie store Tuesday to rent Inglorious Bastards and was bummed when all copies were out. I ended up having to buy it so I could watch the movie. Blockbuster has announced a new service called Direct Access that will help you find a film you want to see even if it is out of stock.

When you go into a store and the film you want isn’t available the store employees can access the distribution center catalog and have the film shipped directly to your door, assuming it is in stock at the distribution center.

Blockbuster has a new program that will load DRM’d movie rentals onto an SD card from a kiosk. Let’s say that you’re at the airport, or some mall. You want to rent a movie. Apparently you just format a spare SD card (because it doesn’t look like they give you a card), put it in the machine, select a movie, pay about $4. Then you have the movie on your card with DRM.

Are they serious? An SD card won’t play on iPhones and Blackberrys. Now Mini SD and Micro SD, sure. Most mobile devices will take them. I guess it works for netbook and laptop users, but that’s about it. How about more options?

Blockbuster is preparing a mobile movie download service specifically for Motorola handsets. Blockbuster didn’t provide many details, and we have no pricing info or a launch date. We don’t even know which Motorola phones the movies would play on, or how the movies will be distributed.

All we know for sure is that “thousands” of movie will be available. This could be a much needed source of revenue for Blockbuster, but it’s risky. It could blow up in their faces. It remains to be seen just how much money they can make renting movies that are watched on such small screens.

The small and compact netbook might make for a good way to watch movies on the go. The big downside is that the average notebook has no optical drive making watching DVD movies impossible. You can download digital films or stream digital content when you are connected online though.

Blockbuster and Archos have announced that the new and slick Archos 10 netbook will be offered for sale in 1,000 corporate owned Blockbuster locations around the country. The netbook will sell for $299.99 and has a 10-inch screen and a keyboard.

I think the future of movie rentals and purchases are in digital form. One day we will no longer trek to the movie store on Tuesdays when new movies are released on DVD. We will just hop on our Apple TVs or maybe even our Blu-ray players and rent the movies digitally.

Blockbuster and Samsung have announced that the two companies have signed an agreement that will provide access to streaming content from Blockbuster on select Samsung HDTVs, Blu-ray players, and home theater systems. The service is expected to debut this fall.

I remember summers back when I was in school. It was great for a few weeks and then I was bored out of my mind. I ended up watching lots of movies and playing video games until my parents cut me off for spending too much.

Blockbuster has announced a new summer escape pass that is good for a full week and allows customers to rent all the video games and movies they want for only $10. The catch is that you can only have one movie or video game out at once.

I am a big sci-fi fan. Not one of the rabid types mind you that wear costumes and goes to conventions, but I like to watch sci-fi films and read sci-fi books. All sci-fi fans have their favorite characters and many of the favorites are classic characters we can all agree on.

Blockbuster has surveyed sci-fi fans to come up with top five lists for best starship captain, best villain, hottest male sci-fi star, and hottest female sci-fi star. The top five captains in order are Malcolm Reynolds from Firefly, James T. Kirk, Jean-Luc Picard, Han Solo, and William Adama. Picard so should have been number one.