Blockbuster credit agreement amended for 4th time

LOS ANGELES, April 24 (Reuters) - Blockbuster Inc (BBI.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the No. 1 U.S. movie rental chain, negotiated a credit agreement amendment with its lenders to gain more latitude in selling off assets, according to a securities filing on Tuesday. The amendment raises the value of sales, transfers or disposals of assets that Blockbuster may transact without lender approval to $250 million from $100 million.

Under the new amendment, Blockbuster must apply the net proceeds of those transactions to its debt, which totaled $984 million at year's end.

This is the fourth time that Blockbuster has amended its credit agreements since 2005 to service its debt, although the Dallas-based company has made progress in selling off video game and international assets.

Blockbuster and other store-based video rental chains have been hit by declining rental revenue since 2005, as online DVD rental and other forms of entertainment have cut into in-store rental revenue.

Shares of Blockbuster were down 1.3 percent, or 8 cents per share, at $6.18 on Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange.

((Reporting by Gina Keating, editing by Gerald E. McCormick; Reuters Messaging: gina.keating.reuters.com@reuters.net; +1 213 955 6776)) Keywords: BLOCKBUSTER/AMENDMENT

(C) Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution ofReuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expresslyprohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuterssphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group ofcompanies around the world.nN24413851