Walmart announced this week that it plans to acquire California based streaming movie company, Vudu Inc., making it a wholly owned subsidiary of Walmart.
Vudu is defined as a High Definition On-Demand Movie Service. Available in a stand-alone box or as a services in certain entertainment devices, Vudu streams movies, over the Internet, to your television.
With over 16,000 movies in the library and licensing agreements with many major studios, Vudu is quite a leap into the Entertainment market for Walmart. However, there’s one aspect of Vudu’s service that neither party are talking about much.
Some of the providers on the Vudu platform are adult studios like Hustler, Wicked and Vivid. Of course, I’d expect that Walmart will drop this aspect of the service to keep in line with it’s Family friendly brand… even though I’m sure it’s a segment of the service that is quite a money maker.
Here’s what Walmart has to say:
“VUDU is a revolutionary service, built into a growing number of broadband-ready TVs and Blu-ray players, that delivers instant access to thousands of movies and TV shows directly through the television. Customers with broadband Internet access and an Internet-ready TV or Blu-ray player can rent or purchase movies, typically in high-definition, without needing a connected computer or cable/satellite service. New movies and features will be added continually, enabling customers to enjoy a product that continues to become more robust long after they have left the store.”
Interesting times ahead for Walmart and the streaming industry in general. I see price wars happening… hopefully.
Find out more about Vudu at Vudu.com
See the entire press release here
