Wal-Mart Turns Over DVD Rentals to Netflix

prostoalex writes "US retail giant Wal-Mart is turning its DVD rental business to Netflix. No word on how much money the deal is worth but Netflix will feature promotional Wal-Mart links for the 100K customers it gets from the retail chain."

Comments

Wal-mart censorship

[Lovesquid]

Anyone know if Wal-mart censors their DVD rentals like they do with their retail CDs/DVDs? I know I won't shop there for this reason.

Re:Wal-mart censorship

[Anonymous Coward]

And you know what? It's your right not to shop there because you disagree with their censoring. And it's Wal-mart's right to censor what they sell so people who WANT the censored material can get it.

Re:Wal-mart censorship

[killmenow]

I don't know, but I could imagine a scenario wherein NetFlix provides what amounts to a fulfillment service to Wal-Mart under the Wal-Mart name and maintains its own NetFlix branded rental service.

Then, if Wal-Mart says: no NC-17 movies, etc., on our branded service, fine. So long as the people who are interested in it can still get it under the NetFlix name, I don't care if Wal-Mart wants to filter their product.

Re:Wal-mart censorship

[Big_Al_B]

Er, how does a *store* choosing what merchandise to sell to *customers* who choose to shop there constitute censorship again?

If that's censorship then I guess my local whole foods market is guilty too, because they don't carry Cap'n Crunch Peanut Butter Crunch. All they carry is some crappy organic peanut butter puffs. The *bastards*.

Re:Wal-mart censorship

[Anonymous Coward]

It would almost certainly be a money loser even at the volumes wally-world buys at.

Tell that to the hundreds of businesses, large and small, that Wal-Mart puts out of business by doing exactly that. They sell over $285 BILLION a year, and if you don't do everything that they want, then they will simply make a boat-load of money with another supplier.

Oh, you are the only person/entity that owns the movie/DVD rights? Ok, then, if you don't edit EVERYTHING we want in EVERYTHING we buy from you, you lose complete access to the millions and millions who spend billions and billions in the most widespread retailing network on the planet.

It doesn't matter if it's a money-loser for anyone, as long as Wal-Mart can make money. And with the enormous marketshare they have and the retailing power that comes with it, they can make a profit off of anything they choose to, usually at the expense of their suppliers.

Re:Wal-mart censorship

[TerminaMorte]

So, please post the timecode for an example of this editing and I will go and try to confirm it on my copy tonight.

Mmm, mmm. Smells like defensism.

Wouldn't it be easy to just ask him what parts he remembers being removed, so you can watch it and see for yourself?

Who the hell would waste the time to look up timecodes to appease some random guy on slashdot?

Competition

[MyLongNickName]

It seems to me that the there is really only room for one DVD rental-by-mail service. It is one of those commodity items that becomes cheaper to run on a per-customer basis the more customers you have. Netflix got rid of a potential competitor and gained an influential ally in the process. Now, they have to deal with Blockbuster.

In five years, only one will remain. Who will win? My money is still on Blockbuster, but the odds have definitely shifted.

Re:Competition

[mattmentecky]

It seems to me that the there is really only room for one DVD rental-by-mail service. It is one of those commodity items that becomes cheaper to run on a per-customer basis the more customers you have. Netflix got rid of a potential competitor and gained an influential ally in the process. Now, they have to deal with Blockbuster.

*bangs head against his Capitalism Fundamentals 101 book*

Excuse me?! I really really hope you didnt mean to imply that your perceived one-player-DVD rental system is a *good* thing but good gosh man, it certainly certainly will not be cheaper!

Too often people such as the parent here get tangled up in a business idea that seems simple to reproduce or that there are many players (businesses) that are identical and then cast that area of business as needing only one of said businesses to exist. To that I say no! No no no no. Look at Coke and Pepsi. Virtually the same damn thing and both do very well! And we as consumers benefit. Microsoft has a 90% stranglehold on marketshare, would you say that we benefit in quality, cost and inovation in their one-player-sytem?

Re:WalMart = Microsoft of retail

[geoffspear]

Nah, it's just outsourcing. Giving up the market would involve shutting down their service altogether instead of getting someone else to do it.

And apparently they were smart enough to realize that a DVD-by-mail service for US customers just can't be run out of China for cheaper.

Re:Summary has it backwards

[east coast]

Walmart bought Netflix, not t'other way round.

From what I read no one bought anyone. Netflix is going to get the old Wal-Mart customer base but NetFlix is going to offer a sales link to Wal-Mart. I don't see it as a buy and sell but rather allowing each company to focus on either rental or retail. If anything both sides stand to profit from this; NetFlix gets the customer base on rentals and Wal-Mart can focus on the retail DVD market while dumping what was probably a less than profitable side venture along with what is basically free advertising from NetFlix.