Dish said to shutter 300 U.S. Blockbuster stores

As more Blockbuster video rental stores slip into the red, its parent company Dish Network has decided to shutter 300 stores across the U.S., according to Reuters. The closing of these stores could mean that as many as 3,000 employees would also be laid off.

After Dish bought Blockbuster in 2011, for $320 million, the company said it planned to keep 1,500 of the chain's rental stores open and maintain 15,000 employees. However, with profits dropping, and with video streaming and downloading popping up all over the place, Dish ended up keeping only about 850 locations open.

The news of the U.S. store closings comes on the heels of Blockbuster's U.K. unit also being cut, according to Reuters.

In the U.S., Blockbuster has 800 stores and around 7,300 employees, according to Reuters. Despite the closing of more than one third of these shops, Dish has been looking for new ways to make the rental chain profitable. For example, in December it toyed with the idea of selling mobile phones at the stores. The company has also said that it has no plans to shutter the business completely.

"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, according to Reuters.

CNET contacted Dish for comment. We'll update the story when we get more information.