Posts filed under ‘Wal-Mart’
Wal-Mart Buys VUDU – OTT in Every Home?
Wal-Mart Adds Its Clout to Movie Streaming – NYTimes.com.
In what seems to be a bet on the future of Over-The-Top (OTT) services, Wal-Mart acquired the VUDU online movie service in a deal estimated at $100M. The VUDU service is used in HDTVs and Bluray Players from LG, Samsung, Vizio, Sharp, etc… and is adding more vendors this year. VUDU is similar to the NETFLIX online streaming service, but is a Pay-Per-View service, offers up to 1080P HD movies, and usually offers a more recent catalog of movies.
Wal-Mart is one of the leading retailers for DVDs as well as HDTVs, so will be hedging their bets on the transition from packaged media to online media distribution. VUDU might also help increase sales of Internet-enabled HDTVs and Bluray Players, as well as the services to install them. Even longer term, Wal-Mart might also use VUDU to offer other online shopping services through the TV from digital music to household items from Walmart.com.
Whatever the future holds for Wal-Mart, VUDUs marketing power just increased exponentially and consumers will see and hear the VUDU brand a lot more. Since VUDU offers the highest 1080P streaming quality of any online movie service (up to 10Mbps), a MoCA home network will ensure that perfect quality throughout the house. Wal-Mart currently sells MoCA bridges on it’s website and with a VUDU-enabled HDTV, consumers will be the big winners in the end.
