Wal-Mart Offers Up Downloadable Movies

An anonymous reader slipped us the link to a C|Net article on another downloadable movie offering, this time from retail giant Wal-mart. Stinging from their loss to Netflix in the online DVD rental business two years ago, they are coming out swinging with this service. They've made arrangements with all six major Hollywood studios, and (the article theorizes) will likely have highly competitive prices. With Apple's dominance of this particular market, there is still no guarantee whether Wal-mart will have any success with this program. The biggest problem, commentators note, is that there is no guarantee Wal-mart's service will draw customers into their stores: the issue that ultimately caused them to scuttle the DVD rental service. What do you think of a major retailer getting into movie download business? Will the company be able to outmaneuver Apple and Netflix the same way it has done with other retailers in the past?

Comments

Re:Security

[QuickFox]

I put my email address in, and up came a listing of my full name and personal information Of course it did. What did you expect? In these times of government and authorities spreading terrorist scares, terrorist hysteria and terrorist fear, do you still have illusions of privacy?

Re:Not if it's like their stores.

[tomstdenis]

Most stuff at Walmart is shite. At least the stuff they make bank on. The more expensive clothing, electronics, aren't exactly flying off the shelves.

Re:Are you a parrot

[thefirelane]

Another even more reckless point is that Wal-Mart stated that inclimate weather is no longer an excuse for being late for work

Is it really though? Now-a-days weather should never make you late. It can make you not show up... but with weather forecasting, it isn't like you can't plan ahead anymore. If you have to drive slower, leave earlier.

Either it is too dangerous, and you don't show up, or it isn't, and you plan your trip accordingly.

Re:Security

[tomstdenis]

is it a 1080p tv? etc...

Frankly, if I were to invest in HD, I'd make sure I'm set for the next decade [hopefully...]. No sense buying a 720p or whatever TV now when content for higher resolutions will be out soon enough.

And yes, 3000 was an exageration. Point is though, a decent set will run you a grand or two [Canadian not USD]. Meanwhile a higher resolution [though smaller] LCD will cost you half if not less as much.

Maybe I don't get LCD production but I thought it was the # of pixels that mattered, not their size. Why should a larger equal resolution display cost way more?

Tom

Re:Security

[tomstdenis]

While yes a lot of the cost is the "license" fees [or whatever you want to call them]. Materials do cost money. Costs money to make, money to ship, money to stock, etc... Even the "writeoff" bin of most movie stores still sells movies for $5 or so. I seriously doubt that's to pay the studios cut. Aside from the cost factor, just having fewer physical discs in my movie collection would be nice.

Second, an LCD element is an LCD element. Cramming more into a tinier spot should, at least rationally, be harder than placing them into a larger area. It may have a higher materials cost, but I can't see how the failure rate goes up just because the pitch changes size. I think, like the way they price processors, they use the the smaller displays to help pay for factory downtime when they're not making the huge displays which they sell at obscene profits. In the end, many "lower cost" processors are made with the same design and process as the higher end parts, in fact, many of them are capable of running at the higher rates too (e.g. Intel Core 2 Duo processors).

To think that the industry is totally level and not making bank on the hysteria that is HD is foolish.