The media is always up for a “Blockbuster is Dead” story. It began back when Video on Demand (VOD) was first introduced and has been like an intermittent drum beat ever since. It’s always fascinating to me how the same story can be written again and again. But as Mark Twain would have said, “The reports of the video store’s demise have been greatly exaggerated.”

Nevertheless, here we are again – Blockbuster is still here, and last week’s launch of the Vudu box spawned a spanking new crop of the same old article . The Vudu box ($400) sits on top of your TV and delivers up to 5,000 movies on demand. It’s taken its place among its predecessors as a “video store in a box.” But that’s the biggest problem. It’s a box. And there’s no evidence that consumers want to buy another box (just ask Best Buy how Apple TV’s are selling). This is especially true when, like in the case of Vudu, that box quietly turns their home into a P2P server, serving up movies to their neighbors -- eating up-stream bandwidth and potentially putting them in violation of their Terms of Service with their home Internet Service Provider. Let’s look at this another way – The Cable companies have very sophisticated VOD systems in place, and Blockbuster still exists. TiVo has a great product, and they’ve only been able to amass 4 million subscribers in how many years? And their box does a lot more than provide movies (which it now does, thanks to Amazon Unbox).

We talk to leading edge consumers every day, and we have yet to have anyone tell us that what they really want is another box that delivers one kind of content to one device in their home (and locks it there). What they want is easy access to a range of content wherever they are. What they want is simplicity, portability, and flexibility. We’re still not there. But that's where consumer demand is going.

Now, lest you think I’m down on Vudu, I’m not -- I'm actually grateful for them. Vudu has reinvigorated the thinking and investment in the space. They got the simplicity part right. Maybe they’ll figure out the rest, or maybe they will encourage others to do it – and maybe, just maybe, Blockbuster will figure a new role to play in this ever-morphing space so we never have to read another “Blockbuster is Dead” story!