Wal-Mart has muscled its way into the still-small online movie downloads market, after some experiments late last year with “Superman Returns” movie: it is launching a full-fledged movie download service with about 3,000 movies on offer, including including such hits as Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Paramount’s Mission: Impossible III, Sony’s The Da Vinci Code and Warner Bros.’ Superman Returns. It becomes the first traditional retailer to do so.
-- Download prices will be $12.88 to $19.88 on the day of the DVD release; older movies will start at $7.50 and TV shows at $1.96 an episode.
-- TV episodes will be $1.96 the day after they air. Networks on board include Fox, CW and Viacom’s MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, Logo and VH1.
-- NOT from ABC, CBS or NBC, but it hopes to add soon.
Same restrictions as other PC-based services:
-- Windows XP or Vista and Internet Explorer only, and to some portable devices using Microsoft DRM.
-- The downloads can be backed up as many as three times, including to a DVD, but the backup DVD won’t play in a conventional DVD player.
-- AP: The retailer accounts for about 40 percent of DVD sales, and studios have been careful not to anger their largest customer.
-- The biggest impact of Wal-Mart’s entry into the digital download business may be that it now frees studios to cut deals with other online services.
-- NYT: the company would create discounts that encouraged shoppers to purchase both DVDs and digital videos.
-- WSJ: The new Wal-Mart service is powered by the new H-P Video Merchant Service, which enables retailers to build sites that sell digital downloads of movies and TV shows online or sell DVDs for mail delivery. H-P is also currently building a facility that would manufacture DVDs on demand for retailers that will open sometime later this year.
Factors in Wal-Mart’s success , or the lack of it: Pricing is still too high. Non-compatibility with conventional DVD players etc. The site had a good thing doing with the Superman trial...what happened to the DVD+download bundling? Also, Wal-Mart’s threw in the towel for its online DVD rental service....why would online downloads be any better?
Related:
-- Wal-Mart Launches Movie Digital Download Bundle; More Coming
-- Apple and Wal-Mart In Talks Over Movie Download Revenue Share; Studios Wait Until Q4 End
-- Warner To Help Wal-Mart Launch Movie Download Site and DVD Burning Kiosks
-- Target, Disney in DVD truce; Controversy Over iTunes Movie Downloads Pricing
-- Major DVD-Seller Target Wants Level Playing Field From Studios: Report