RIP Blockbuster

Dish Network Corp. plans to close a further 300 Blockbuster stores in the U.S. in the coming weeks, leaving the video chain with less than one-third of the stores acquired by the satellite-television company in 2011.

The closures will result in the layoffs of 3,000 employees, or about 40% of Blockbuster's workforce of 7,300, a spokesman for Dish said Tuesday.

About 500 Blockbuster stores will remain open in the U.S. after the moves, Dish said. In comparison, the video chain had roughly 5,700 outlets across the country as recently as 2005. The emergence of video-on-demand services, and rival DVD rental companies such as Netflix Inc., eroded Blockbuster's business over the past few years.

Dish inherited 1,700 stores when it bought Blockbuster out of bankruptcy court in 2011 for a net cost of $226 million. Since then, the satellite-TV company has been closing underperforming stores, including 650 last year. In the second and third quarters of last year, the Blockbuster unit incurred operating losses, Dish has said. The company hasn't yet reported results for the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile, Blockbuster's U.K. arm called in administrators last week to sell or wind down the company after Dish failed to find a buyer for it.