That’s right folks Walmart is following iTunes lead and has started a movie and TV episode downloading service of their own. The people over at yahoo.com give us this:
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on Tuesday introduced a test version of its new video download service, making it the first major retailer to offer such a service with the backing of all of Hollywood’s big studios. The service, available on Wal-Mart’s Web site, lets users download movies or television episodes that they can watch on their computers or portable media players, pitting the No. 1 retailer against Apple Inc.’s iTunes service. The downloads are priced from $1.96 for episodes of television shows to up to $19.88 for new movies.
As a larger kick in iTunes teeth all of the major studios have signed up with Wal-Mart including 20th Century Fox, Disney, Lions Gate, MGM, MTV Networks, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Warner Bros., and television networks including Comedy Central, Fox, and Nickelodeon.
With my last post actually being about Disney films selling well online it looks like the other studios have jumped onto the bandwagon just as fast as they can. Good thing they are too, this is the future of film and television, some people might not like it but that doesn’t mean it’s not happening. Wal-Mart is smart to include television at such a good price, I am personally more interested in that at this point then movies because I won’t schedule my life around television episodes and I don’t have TiVo.
It’s crappy that it’s the big bad Wal-Mart who has convinced the studios to come along online but with the financial stability and middle America clientele of the company it does make sense that it would be the most trustworthy option out there.
I wonder if now they’ll try and get cool commercials.
