…in Portugal.

Okay, admit it–I had you all going with that headline for a moment, didn’t I?  Yeah, I know–it’s all true, though–Blockbuster Video has not only filed the paperwork for bankruptcy in Portugal, but has also closed one out of every three stores in the country.

Granted, that’s only ten out of the twenty seven stores they had there, but still–percentage wise, that’s a LOT of closings.

Here’s where things get unsettling.  Blockbuster blames the closures on A. Piracy, and B. the complete failure of the Portuguese government to do a single damn thing about piracy.  And as we all know, because we’ve been following this particular news like a pack of starving dogs follows a slow mailman wearing a uniform made entirely of roast beef, that Blockbuster has had a whole lot of problems much bigger and far more industry wide than piracy.  Netflix and Redbox ALONE count for about seventy five percent of Blockbuster’s problems.

And at this point I’d like to open up the floor–hey Portuguese readers!  I know we’ve got a few of you out there, so why not weigh in?  IS movie piracy as bad as Blockbuster claims?  Or are they just whistling in the dark looking for excuses?