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Blockbuster Takes On Netflix With Movie Streaming Box

Blockbuster is offering a digital media player called MediaPoint for free to subscribers who pre-pay $99 for the first 25 DVDs served on it. DVDs rented after the 25 are used up will cost $1.99 to $3.99, but there is no monthly subscription fee, says Chris Nuttall on FT.com's techblog.

The announcement sets up a battle with Netflix, whose current box costs $99 and allows monthly subscribers to its postal service to stream the content of more than 10,000 DVDs to their televisions at no extra charge. Netflix is also part of the new interface for the Xbox 360.

MediaPoint is prettier than the Netflix box, Nuttall maintains, it and has a USB connection, currently disabled, for external storage. It can also store internally up to five standard definition movies or two high-definition movies at a time. On the other hand, it will start will a smaller pool of movies available - about 2,500.

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