In an effort to improve profitability of the US-based video rental store Blockbuster, parent company Dish Network Corp is planning on closing down as many as 300 outlets across the country.

Dish just recently began administering Blockbuster, and would like to unload the unprofitable Blockbuster stores whose business model has been eroded by such online retailers as Amazon and download sites like Apple’s highly popular iTunes store. The closure of 300 stores would mean the laying off of as many as 3,000 workers, representing about 40 percent of Blockbuster’s total workforce of 7,300 in the United States.

“We continue to see value in the Blockbuster brand and we will continue to analyze store-level profitability and, as we have in the past, close unprofitable stores,” Dish said in a statement.

The exact locations of the outlets bound for the chopping block have not yet been revealed.