Movies On WalMart: Company Offers Video Streaming On Walmart.com

NEW YORK -- Now playing: Movies at Walmart.com.

The world's largest retailer on Tuesday started streaming many movies the same day they come out on DVD, in a second bid for a share of popular movie rental and streaming website Netflix Inc.'s business and just two weeks after Netflix announced new price increases.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. bought video-streaming service Vudu.com 18 months ago and now offers 20,000 titles that can be viewed on almost any device with Internet access, from computers to televisions to Sony's PlayStation3 and other Blu-Ray disc players.

Movies are available at Walmart.com to rent for $1 to $5.99 or to purchase for $4.99 and up. Wal-Mart is not offering subscriptions, making its service more similar to Apple Inc.'s iTunes, which charges $3.99 to rent newly released movies and $14.99 to buy a movie.

In addition to Netflix, another competitor streaming movies and TV shows by subscription is Hulu.com, which now offers a premium service for $7.99 a month with more back-season shows and more movies. Without a subscription, Hulu viewers can watch shows and movies free in exchange for watching advertising.

The movie offering fits with the Wal-Mart website's strategy of offering a "seamless continuous shopping service," said Steve Nave, senior vice president and general manager of Walmart.com.

Wal-Mart's announcement comes on the heels of Netflix saying it will raise rates and charge separately for streaming and rental DVDs. Its second price hike in eight months, Netflix's planned increases could amount to 60 percent for existing customers, starting Sept. 1. New subscribers have to pay the new prices immediately.

Netflix plans to charge $16 a month for services that used to cost $10 a month when bundled together, for example. It's still changing $8 a month for streaming, which it launched late last year. But instead of charging $2 more for a plan that includes one DVD at a time by mail, the company will charge $8 and up for DVD plans.

Customers have taken to social media sites Facebook and Twitter to vent their anger over Netflix's increases, but executives said they anticipated the reaction. The company's willingness to risk alienating subscribers signals it needs more revenue to cover rising costs.

Through June, Netflix had 24.6 million subscribers in the U.S.

Wal-Mart, based in Bentonville, Ark., has tested the movie-rental waters before. It previously offered a DVD-by-mail service that cost $12.97 per month for two titles and $17.36 per month for three titles. But it ceded that program to Netflix in May 2005, letting customers continue their subscriptions with Los Gatos, Calif.-based Netflix without a rate hike. Apple is based in Cupertino, Calif.

Comments

[geturdone2008]

11:20 PM on 07/29/2011

this is sad that this big comanpy takeing away mom and pa stores that they work all there live too have. if you have a good busnesss it going good watch out walmart will take it away from you it call stealing that what walmart been doing open your eye and see what going on with walmart... who came up with the first super center it was k mart that came up with that and look what happen too k mart they went down why... be fore walmart we had k mart and all them small comany that now all gone.. why walmart knock them out walmart dont care.. open eyes what happen too all the video store where you can rent movie there all gone i am only speaking the truth poeple need open there eyes

[brandon20678]

01:02 PM on 07/29/2011

Once Walmart Create More American Jobs, Raise Wages, then I would consider Watching Movies from Walmart.

[Phemale]

08:04 PM on 07/28/2011

Oh, I thought they were going to stream their Fr33kish customers like http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/photos
Disclaimer; That site is currently having some problems but the homepage is up and running.

[thesadtruthliveson]

02:12 PM on 07/28/2011

I only watch Target movies.

[writerredux]

10:55 AM on 07/28/2011

Lord Vader has taken the field: "Walmart Offers Video Streaming"

[writerredux]

10:51 AM on 07/28/2011

Lord Vader has taken the field.

[Carolyn Kostopoulos]

09:43 AM on 07/28/2011

one more step in their quest for world dictatorship. one way to stop this: DON'T BUY ANYTHING FROM THEM, DON'T EVEN GO IN OR NEAR THE STORE. ok, their stuff is cheap and yeah, nothing is made in america anymore, but whatever they are selling, YOU DON'T NEED IT. learn to live with less crap, stop supporting the companies that are helping to destroy the world. buy your food directly from a farmer. if it comes in a box, you shouldn't be eating it anyway

[blurredmolly]

08:22 AM on 07/28/2011

eff Walmart

[Knowledgeseeker]

05:45 PM on 07/27/2011

sound like a good idea

[jba1005560]

02:43 PM on 07/27/2011

Thank God for Walmart. And if you don't believe in God then Thank Goodness for Walmart. We go out of our way to drive a little further so we can get to one. Finally a company that stands up to the unions which are destroying America. Want to buy American? Hard right? Blame the unions because they are the entities which drive up the cost of production to the point where hardly anything can get made in this great country of ours. Hatred of Walmart is simply misinformed and misdirected frustration which instead should be redirected towards the unions and intrusive goverment. So for the 90% of Walmart Haters who still sneak into Walmart for the best deals you can now stop feeling guilty. So glad Walmart has gotten into the online streaming movie business because most of those movies are MADE IN AMERICA! WALMART ROCKS!

[StansDad]

03:09 PM on 07/28/2011

Fortunately, no one is listening to your lies and misinformation.

[DFD CPA]

08:14 AM on 07/27/2011

One step closer to working off of the Truck System.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_store

"We've taken care of everything
The words you hear, the songs you sing
The pictures that give pleasure to your eyes
It's one for all, all for one
We work together, common sons
Never need to wonder how or why
[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/r/rush/the+temples+of+syrinx_20120042.html ]
We are the priests
Of the temples of syrinx
Our great computers
Fill the hollowed halls
We are the priests
Of the temples of syrinx
All the gifts of life
Are held within our walls "

[bigshotprof]

06:52 AM on 07/27/2011

Right now, of course, the only two options are Smokey and the Bandit and Talledega Nights.

[ILoveGreatDanes]

06:33 AM on 07/27/2011

Cry me a freaking river. People constantly complain about Walmart, however, there is one reason, and one reason only, that Walmart continues to prosper-they have the cheapest prices on the most goods. So people, including myself, continue to buy from Walmart in mass quantities. Sure, it would be nice to buy American. However, American products are much more expensive and more difficult to find. People have to cut corners somewhere, particularly in a lousy economy. So an easy way is to buy at stores which are cheaper (ie Walmart) and buy cheaper items (ie Chinese). Until there are other, more inexpensive alternatives, Walmart will continue to get bigger and bigger.

[StansDad]

03:11 PM on 07/28/2011

Ironically the cheapness you exhibit is why good jobs are flooding out of America, so people can buy cheap crap. Now we're all out of jobs and up to our ears in cheap crap. Ah well, all the cheap crap will make permanent mass unemployment more enjoyable.

[simplesins]

02:00 AM on 07/27/2011

While it is easy to loathe Walmart, once you get past the coastal elitism, that I too used to bask in, it's a different story. In many parts of the US, it's Walmart or nothing. There are no mom-and-pop stores. There are local grocery chains, but their merchandise is only marginally better than an AM/PM. Even a trip to the Walmart is often a 45 mile trip for some people. For groceries, there are few affordable alternatives. For other items there is the internet, but that doesn't help the mom-and-pop stores, either. As another poster noted, you would be hard-pressed to find anything made in the USA anywhere, even in the small stores. It's easy to hate Walmart, but large areas of The States, they are the only lifeline.

[StansDad]

03:13 PM on 07/28/2011

Because the other businesses were ran out of business by Walmart. Now people have access to cheap products, and all the small businesses that offered a good wage and a chance of upward mobility have been replaced by minimum wage jobs...

[DeerPal]

01:33 AM on 07/27/2011

For all of you who posted that Wal-Mart brings in foreign goods, I challenge you to buy American made at any other stores... Just for one year... Live off of only American made ... You'll find it a real challenge... I've been checking the labels at Target, K-Mart, and most large and small stores...and they all sell foreign-made goods... Even small shops in small towns that do not have the larger chain stores ...

If you want things right in this country...bring back the unions and support them...and vote out every politician that backs "Global" ... ! Made in USA ! Made in USA ! Made in USA !!