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Wal-Mart Threatens Studios Over iTunes Sales

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the how-dare-they dept.

Y-Crate writes "It seems Wal-Mart is threatening retaliation against studios who decide to offer movies on iTunes. The Bentonville, AR retailer seems a bit miffed that someone would dare to undercut their prices. This wouldn't be the first time they've turned on a supplier for dealing with Apple." From the article: "Last year when Disney announced it would begin offering episodes of the hit shows 'Lost' and 'Desperate Housewives' on Apple's iTunes, the reaction of the world's largest retailer sent shockwaves through the entertainment industry. Wal-Mart, worried that offering the shows for viewing on iPods would cut into DVD sales at its stores, sent 'cases and cases' of DVDs back to Disney, according to a source familiar with the matter."

6 of 415 comments (clear)

  1. Yeah, but it's the NY Post by Swift2001 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Whoever said it was accurate? Reuters has anotherr story. http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.asp x?view=CN&storyID=2006-09-22T233423Z_01_N22181208_ RTRIDST_0_MEDIA-WALMART-STUDIOS-UPDATE-2.XML&rpc=6 6&type=qcna

  2. Comment count on the front page? by Rik+Sweeney · · Score: 3, Informative

    This is completely offtopic

    That's odd, all the stories after Microsoft Vista User Interface Guidelines Published don't show the comment count...

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    Summation 2
  3. Funny, I just finished reading a book..... by 8127972 · · Score: 3, Informative

    .... On this topic called the Wal-Mart Effect:

    http://www.amazon.com/Wal-Mart-Effect-Powerful-Tra nsforming-American/dp/1594200769

    Basically, the author looks at Wal-Mart's tactics in terms of squeezing it's suppliers to get the absolute lowest price and figures that while consumers benefit from this (even if they don't shop there), it doesn't exactly make Wal-Mart "evil." But there are troubling aspects to their behaviour that gives one cause to pause so to speak (like how they treat offshore workers for example).

    Having said that, I think they'll find that Apple may be a different sort of challenge. I don't think studios will cave the same way that Wal-Mart's suppliers usually do.

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    This is my opinion. To make sure you don't steal it, it's covered by the DMCA.
  4. Re:What about Amazon? by ThisIsForReal · · Score: 3, Informative

    Yeah, I guess you haven't heard of "unbox" either. No problem, most of the rest of the world has, too and it should hopefully go away soon.

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  5. Better news links by PsychosisC · · Score: 3, Informative

    I'm sorry... but this article is drivel. I mean, this is bad for slashdot. It's a month old story, from a joke of a newspaper source.

    This is a bit of an old story... CNN.com allready has a story about how Wal-Mart is looking into opening its own movie downloads. It makes sense, seeing as they allready have a working music download service.

    The article posted is a bit... Let's just say that the Businesweek article covering this has a much less "Wal-Mart is EEEEVIL" ring to it. I know it feels good to pat yourself on the back with the Coorporate hate feelings, but this NY Post article has a pretty blatant and nasty slant that shouldn't have make it to the slashdot front page.

  6. "Made with pride" was a joke by sgent · · Score: 4, Informative
    my father was a supplier (actually negotiated the contracts) to Sam's Club & Walmart during that time period.

    Wal-Mart's made with pride campaign meant that if your product was the exact same price or cheaper than the Chinese or Mexican product, it would be carried. One penny more and it was out.

    Wal-Mart was forced to discontinue the campaign after a slew of state AG's sued them for misleading advertising.