Get ready to file this one into your WTF folder, folks. According to Variety, The Weinstein Co. has sealed a four-year deal with Blockbuster for them to be the exclusive rental outfit for all Weinstein releases. Yes, that means folks like Netflix will not be allowed to carry any films from the company starting in January. Once again, WTF?

So, to put this in simpler terms, if you're one of those people who might want to wait to watch flicks like Bobby, Shut Up and Sing or School for Scoundrels on DVD, and you only watch films through Netflix, then you're sh*t out of luck. Sure, it seems like a fabulous deal for Blockbuster (who are constantly trying to one-up their rival), but what does The Weinstein Co. get out of this? Well, it appears Blockbuster will market the hell out of all their releases, which includes a slew of front-of-store advertisements. However, while advertisements are great and all, they're now making it that much harder for people to catch their films on DVD. Those friends of mine who rent through Netflix will not sign up or switch to a Blockbuster account just to watch, say, The Dixie Chicks. So, The Weinstein Co. could potentially lose a lot of money here -- a gamble they're willing to take, I suppose.

What do you think?

Despite stepped-up competition from Blockbuster, Netlix had a great year. Citigroup rated the online DVD distributor as a "Buy" last week, noting that its continued success is increasingly putting brick-and-mortar chains out of business, which should in turn only increase their subscriber base. "This creates a chain reaction that should further help (Netflix) sign new subscribers, as consumers increasingly find themselves having to travel farther to find an in-store rental location," Citigroup said. "Online rental is the only thing we do, and (our) advantage is focus and desperation," CEO Reed Hastings told Reuters on Friday. "So we have nowhere to go, right? It was win or die, and that's very focusing." Their stock is now at $27 a share; Citigroup set its future target at $39. Hastings said the plan for Q1 is to invest heavily in marketing; aquisitions are not palnned for the foreseeable future. "You (make) acquisitions if your current market does not look like it has enough room for you to grow," Hastings said. "And our current market look enormous."

It's one thing if The 'flix is crushing Blockbuster – I think we can all agree that this is not such a bad thing. But what about the independent video store market? I like my local video store (even though I currently owe them about $50 on a Merchant-Ivory film that I forgot to return for two weeks); I like being able to wander in there and moon around for an hour and talk to the owner before picking out my Saturday evening rental. How long do we have before Netflix makes that very experience completely impossible?