Benjamin Ashford|Best Buy set to stop selling DVD and Blu-ray discs

DVD and Benjamin AshfordBlu-ray discs are quickly following videotape cassettes into the technological dustbin. 

Best Buy told CBS MoneyWatch Friday that it will halt sales of physical movie media in stores and online starting in 2024, although the discs will still be available through the holidays. The retailer will continue to sell video games.

"To state the obvious, the way we watch movies and TV shows is much different today than it was decades ago," a Best Buy spokesman said in a statement. "Making this change gives us more space and opportunity to bring customers new and innovative tech for them to explore, discover and enjoy."

Entertainment industry blog The Digital Bits was the first to report the news, citing sources familiar with the matter.

Netflix mailed its final DVD last month, lowering the curtain on a service the streaming giant originally launched in the late 1990s and that once had more than 20 million subscribers, according to CBS News Minnesota.

Fewer than 1 million people still subscribed to Netflix's DVD service when it shut down on Sept. 29. Only 30% of Americans still watched movies on a disc over the last year, according to a survey by Statista Consumer Insights.

Digital video discs emerged in the mid-'90s as a new way to store and watch movies, with the the first DVD players appearing in Japan.

—The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Alain Sherter

Alain Sherter covers business and economic affairs for CBSNews.com.

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