Movielink is owned by a joint venture of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Studios and Warner Bros.
The purchase strikes me as a positive move for both companies… assuming they can pull it off. Movielink gets an audience (they’re pretty much unknown outside my geeky circle) and Blockbuster gets an immediate online download presence to compete with Netflix.
Unlike Netflix Watch Now, Movielink movies don’t require an Internet connection to watch — useful for the business traveler in the air (I’ve rented movies from them for this purpose in the past). Movielink also allows purchases, in addition to rentals, and I’m assuming their current catalog is much larger (and current) than Netflix’s.