Wal-Mart, the worlds biggest retailer and corporate behemoth, has announced plans to begin testing a video digital download service beginning next year.
Though don’t get too excited just yet, as it is part of a dual approach that ties digital downloads to the purchase of an actual DVD in the store. “We feel like it is really important that the DVD business stays healthy and stays quite central to consumers’ lives,” said Kevin Swint, a divisional merchandising manager at Wal-Mart..
Though not officially opening until next year, it is currently allowing customers who buy the DVD of “Superman Returns” to also download a copy to a portable video device for $1.97, to a PC for $2.97, or both for $3.97.
Ironically though, the movie studios are already arguing over the prices charged to customers as they are afraid that these low prices will become ingrained as the going rate for online movie download purchases.They feel that it would be better to provide the downloads free to DVD buyers, making them clearly a promotional item.
What’s oddly lacking in the whole affair is that it still seems to ignore the fact that DVD sales are on the decline and digital distribution is the future of movie content. So why does Wal-Mart make require you to purchase the DVD of the very movie you wish to download? Why in fact, would you even bother paying to download it in the first place when you could just rip a copy of it to your PC? It makes no sense and appears to be an odd and feeble 
attempt to make an extra buck.
This news from Wal-Mart marks another big shakeup in the way that Hollywood studios distribute movies to consumers.
Yesterday, BitTorrent Inc announced agreements with Viacom Inc.’s Paramount Pictures, News Corp.’s 20th Century Fox, Lionsgate, Palm Pictures and Kadokawa Pictures USA, to offer digital distribution using the fast and effective BitTorrent file-sharing protocol.
Now, with this move by Wal-Mart, the landscape of the video distribution model may forever be changed.
Wal-Mart currently accounts for 37% of the video sales in the United States.
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uhm….. or i could just take the dvd home and make the copy they would have let me download and not be seen on CAMERA!!!
ololol……..I like how companies want you to pay each time you wish to use content on a different platform…..wanna use on your DVD player? 10 bucks. VCR Pla yer? 10 bucks. PC? 10 bucks. iPod? 10 bucks and you can forget about trying to use one on the other (VHS Tapes excluded of course:P) with fair use laws and CSS encryption rules.
Pretty soon they’ll be selling an all purpose license to cover it all and charge you 40 bucks a flic…….it’s so stupid.
I think this is a good trend – more easily accessible digital copies of films. I especially like the Wal Mart manuever of getting the digital copy and the hard copy together if you want that. I think that’s *brilliant* and should be supported.And it makes everyone happy – content easily available to consumers and less piracy for the studios/content producers.
great idea! funny post actually still doesnt change my mind though i wont buy the dvd
l8
37% buy their DVD’s from WallMart. That’s about the same percentage of people who still approve of Bush’s performance as President. A coincidence? Fools will support WallMart and Bush’s “free trade.” Cheap products produced some where else by underpaid workers bought by foolish Americans who are barely scraping by themselves. No thanks. It’s still rent and rip for me!