Consumer electronics retailer Best Buy plans to phase out DVD and Blu-ray sales in early 2024, according to industry sources. The company made the initial decision to end DVD sales nine months ago.
“To state the obvious, the way we watch movies and TV shows today is very different than it was decades ago,” a Best Buy spokesperson said in a statement to Variety on Friday when the company announced it would stop selling DVDs. As a result of this change, we are able to offer our customers new and innovative tech to explore, discover, and enjoy.
A total of 1,129 Best Buy stores, including 969 in the U.S., are expected to sell movies and TV shows on physical discs through the 2023 holiday shopping season. Video games will continue to be sold by the company. As of mid-2023, Best Buy had 1,129 stores, with 969 of them in the U.S.
Home-entertainment blog The Digital Bits first reported Best Buy’s ending DVD sales.
After 25 years of pioneering DVD-by-mail services, Netflix shipped out its final DVDs on Sept. 29 (and allowed customers to keep their final discs).
The top retailers in the U.S. that stock DVDs and Blu-ray discs will be Walmart, Amazon, and Target after Best Buy exits the market. With about 29,000 DVD rental kiosks nationwide, Redbox, now owned by Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, is also still a player in the physical disc game.
Streaming video has been reducing DVD and Blu-Ray disc sales for years, as streaming video has gained popularity. DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group reported that U.S. physical media revenue in the first half of 2023 dropped 28%, to $754 million, from $1.05 billion the year before.
The company said it will “continue to provide catalog product” to its customers until the fourth quarter of 2023 after 35 years in business.
Media Play News reported this summer that Walmart is in talks with DVD distributor Studio Distribution Services (SDS), a joint venture of Universal Pictures and Warner Bros.
