The slow death continues. Blockbuster sent out an email last night announcing they would be raising their rates for most customers as of the next billing cycle. As a member of Blockbuster since 2004 (when I switched from Netflix), this is yet more disheartening news showing that they are in real trouble.

While my rate increase isn’t that bad – from $18 dollars a month up to $20 – some subscribers are really getting shafted with their plans going from $25 to $35 dollars, a 40% increase! A real festive way for Blockbuster to ring in the holidays.

I’m in the same boat as Hacking Netflix – if I wasn’t a high-volume user who lived close to a Blockbuster, I’d probably jump ship back to Netflix. Still, even at $20 a month, the number of movies I get from Blockbuster every month is a great deal equating out to a little over a dollar a movie. That said, if Blockbuster shuts down the in-store Total Access swap – which could easily be the next step – it would cease to be a good deal.

I’m already annoyed that just about one out of every 10 movies I get from Blockbuster has to be sent back as ’scratched or damaged’ (unwatchable), but the fact that they offer absolutely no real online option while Netflix has their (limited) free streaming option is not helping Blockbuster any. A few months ago they bought Movielink, they’re said to be talking with mobile companies about mobile movies, and now they have their exclusive Jackass 2.5 sponsorship (for a few weeks anyway) – but all of these have yet to prove that Blockbuster is here to stay.

It will be very interesting to see what Blockbuster does when Apple announces their movie rental store (as is expected in a few weeks). If that takes off anywhere near the level of success of the iTunes Music store, Blockbuster is done.