AppleInsider
Posted:
in General Discussion
Retailer Walmart is in the process of selling Vudu, its on-demand video streaming service, to movie ticketing service Fandango, an acquisition that will give Fandango more leverage in a crowded streaming market that includes Apple TV+.
The sale of Vudu will hand the streaming service over from Walmart to Fandango, once the deal completes as expected within a few months. Terms of the acquisition remain largely unknown, but part of the agreement involves Vudu continuing to provide its service as part of Walmart's online digital TV and movie store.
Vudu customers will continue to have an uninterrupted service as the company changes hands, reports TechCrunch, including unrestricted access to their Vudu library. Customers will also be able to use their Walmart login to sign into the service, and to make purchases using their existing Walmart wallet.
Fandango already operates its own streaming service, FandangoNOW, giving the firm a venue to integrate Vudu once the sale completes, with a likely benefit being Vudu's existing reach. It is claimed Vudu has a reach of over 100 million living room devices and computers across the United States, while the Vudu app has been installed on over 14.5 million mobile devices.
The deal effectively takes Walmart out of the streaming market almost entirely. In January 2019, it reportedly abandoned plans to launch a streaming service similar in concept to Netflix, apparently due to the potentially heavy investment in original content, with the retailer instead choosing to improve Vudu.
That streaming market is continuing to crowd, with more major players joining it over the last few years, with more also on the way. Existing services including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney , and Apple TV have also been joined by Peaco*ck from NBCU, while WarnerMedia is gearing up to bring out HBO Max.
In a statement, Walmart said it "will continue to invest in areas where we have the greatest strength and are in the best position to serve our customers today and in the future." Citing pickup and delivery arms as examples of how Walmart has "invested in bringing digital and physical capabilities together" to help its customers, the retailer is apparently prioritizing its investments to serve customers in "new ways."
«12»
Reply 1 of 23
supadav03Posts: 504member
April 20, 2020 7:31PM
The less Walmart owns, the better.
Reply 2 of 23
seanismorrisPosts: 1,624member
April 20, 2020 9:39PM
I had no idea they were in the video streaming market.
Reply 3 of 23
the monkPosts: 93member
April 20, 2020 9:42PM
seanismorris said:
I had no idea they were in the video streaming market.
Me neither which is why they’re probably closing down. They wanted to be like an Amazon. For Pete’s sake, stick to what you know.
Reply 4 of 23
gentooguyPosts: 23member
April 20, 2020 9:56PM
supadav03 said:
The less Walmart owns, the better.
Careful. A lot of people feel the same way about Apple. https://medium.com/@otymartin/apple-why-cant-iphone-users-have-this-fddd9601d2b7
Reply 5 of 23
apple ][Posts: 9,233member
April 20, 2020 9:57PM
That's too bad. I had gotten plenty of free movies from VUDU these past few years. They would give out free credits every once in a while that got added to your account.
Most of them were MA compatible, so I could add them to my iTunes library.
I guess that's all over with now.
Reply 6 of 23
gentooguyPosts: 23member
April 20, 2020 10:14PM
the monk said:
seanismorris said:
I had no idea they were in the video streaming market.
Me neither which is why they’re probably closing down. They wanted to be like an Amazon. For Pete’s sake, stick to what you know.
You may wish to take your own advice. Wal-Mart launched Vudu almost 20 years ago to sell MP3 downloads and DVDs, and later to sell digital copies of DVDs and Blu-Rays. They were only streaming the movies that you had already purchased on the site, or previous to then had purchased from Wal-Mart and redeemed through Vudu. Fandango was one of their partners back then, part of the UltraViolet digital locker consortium, along with Flixster. Amazon was going to join Ultraviolet also, but decided to use their own tech. Still, just like Wal-Mart, back in the day, "Prime Video" was also simply a way to download and watch digital copies of DVDs that you bought or rented through Amazon Prime, and you even needed your own "Prime Player" to do it (because they were DRMed to keep you from playing it on VLC, iTunes, Windows Media Player or anything else) and didn't launch their legit streaming service until years later. Curious thing though with music ... where Amazon automatically loaded the songs that you bought through them into iTunes, Wal-Mart tried to compete with Apple with Microsoft and their Zune Player thing where your songs would be added to the Windows Media Player library automatically. (You had to port them into iTunes manually.) But that is an aside. Yes, Wal-Mart considered their own streaming service, but mainly because streaming services hammered DVD and Blu-Ray sales. Another thing that hurt them was the "MoviesAnywhere" service (which was created by Disney to compete with Ultraviolet. This was back before Marvel and Star Wars when Universal, Paramount and even Sony were bigger movie industry players than Disney). UltraViolet collapsed soon after. True, Wal-Mart joined it, but most people simply imported their old digital content from Wal-Mart to other platforms like Amazon and iTunes and used those to watch their old "purchased from Wal-Mart" movies and to buy new ones. Wal-Mart wasn't benefiting from that arrangement at all and now they are getting out.Fandango has a better shot because it is better integrated with the movie industry but even with Vudu's customers it is still an uphill battle for them.
Reply 7 of 23
BeatsPosts: 3,073member
April 20, 2020 10:31PM
I have no respect for a service that capitalizes off the hard work of Apple. They tried to pull a Google and use their stores to overtake Apples/Steves idea of digital codes and run iTunes out of the market. I remember iKnockoff users bashing iTunes on Google+ and talking about how much better Vudu was.
Now is the perfect time for Apple to take back their stores from thieves and bet Fandango is gonna sink this ship into the ground.
gentooguy said:
supadav03 said:
The less Walmart owns, the better.
Careful. A lot of people feel the same way about Apple. https://medium.com/@otymartin/apple-why-cant-iphone-users-have-this-fddd9601d2b7
We like privacy. That's why.
Reply 8 of 23
JinTechPosts: 1,038member
April 20, 2020 11:18PM
Great so from one failed streaming business to a new streaming business (Fandango.) It's ironic "cord cutting" has become the new streaming alternative which in the long run, is starting to add up to be more expensive than cable.
Reply 9 of 23
WgkruegerPosts: 352member
April 20, 2020 11:24PM
gentooguy said:
supadav03 said:
The less Walmart owns, the better.
Careful. A lot of people feel the same way about Apple. https://medium.com/@otymartin/apple-why-cant-iphone-users-have-this-fddd9601d2b7
Define “a lot”. Do you mean maybe 5 people?
Reply 10 of 23
BeatsPosts: 3,073member
April 21, 2020 2:43AM
JinTech said:
Great so from one failed streaming business to a new streaming business (Fandango.) It's ironic "cord cutting" has become the new streaming alternative which in the long run, is starting to add up to be more expensive than cable.
Vudu was a company stealing from iTunes. It wasn't so much a "streaming" service in the vein of Netflix or Hulu.
Wgkrueger said:
gentooguy said:
supadav03 said:
The less Walmart owns, the better.
Careful. A lot of people feel the same way about Apple. https://medium.com/@otymartin/apple-why-cant-iphone-users-have-this-fddd9601d2b7
Define “a lot”. Do you mean maybe 5 people?
Read the article. The author wasn't complaining that Apple owns the App Store.
Some idiots do want Apple to invent everything and pass it on to some 3rd party to profit on.
Reply 11 of 23
sergiozPosts: 338member
April 21, 2020 2:45AM
Reply 12 of 23
JinTechPosts: 1,038member
April 21, 2020 3:01AM
Beats said:
JinTech said:
Great so from one failed streaming business to a new streaming business (Fandango.) It's ironic "cord cutting" has become the new streaming alternative which in the long run, is starting to add up to be more expensive than cable.
Vudu was a company stealing from iTunes. It wasn't so much a "streaming" service in the vein of Netflix or Hulu.
Wgkrueger said:
gentooguy said:
supadav03 said:
The less Walmart owns, the better.
Careful. A lot of people feel the same way about Apple. https://medium.com/@otymartin/apple-why-cant-iphone-users-have-this-fddd9601d2b7
Define “a lot”. Do you mean maybe 5 people?
Read the article. The author wasn't complaining that Apple owns the App Store.
Some idiots do want Apple to invent everything and pass it on to some 3rd party to profit on.
How exactly were they stealing?
Reply 13 of 23
mitchelljdPosts: 167member
April 21, 2020 3:30AM
Beats said:
JinTech said:
Great so from one failed streaming business to a new streaming business (Fandango.) It's ironic "cord cutting" has become the new streaming alternative which in the long run, is starting to add up to be more expensive than cable.
Vudu was a company stealing from iTunes. It wasn't so much a "streaming" service in the vein of Netflix or Hulu.
This is ridiculous, it’s like these two don’t want there to be competition or multiple store options.
FYI, VUDU set a bar high for picture and sound quality. It’s a great service, which even has ability for people to buy digital copies of physical media they have, also to buy both disc and digital at the same time.
Reply 14 of 23
rotateleftbytePosts: 1,630member
April 21, 2020 8:59AM
supadav03 said:
The less Walmart owns, the better.
Ok, but this sort of thing just gives more power to the likes of Amazon who IMHO are determined to drive Walmart and every other retailer to the wall. Then what eh? Amazon or starve or go unclothed?
I'm not saying that this is going to happen tomorrow but the current situation will only give Bezos more power and money.
Just be careful what you wish for eh?
Reply 15 of 23
hodarPosts: 358member
April 21, 2020 1:42PM
One feature that Vudu used to have, that I enjoyed a lot - was the option to take YOUR DVD (they used your GPS address, and matched it against your address on your profile), and allowed you to scan the UPC code off the DVD/Blu-ray (or later on, just put it into your computer DVD/Blu-ray drive), then buy a SD for $2, or the Blu-Ray digital copy for $5. I expanded my digital library by close to 100 titles using this feature.
It's now disabled.
I would love to see someone else pick this up and run with it. I would love to have digital copies of many DVD's I own, and for $5 I can justify upgrading the DVD to Blu-Ray on many titles I already own.
Reply 16 of 23
razorpitPosts: 1,796member
April 21, 2020 2:34PM
gentooguy said:
supadav03 said:
The less Walmart owns, the better.
Careful. A lot of people feel the same way about Apple. https://medium.com/@otymartin/apple-why-cant-iphone-users-have-this-fddd9601d2b7
I want to check out that “Turd Herder” game from the comments section. That should be in AppleArcade.
I read through that article and while I personally think it’s a little gaudy, the developer brought up some valid points. I think his biggest mistake were the examples he submitted. Unfortunately I think if he would have started with something a little more “professional” he might have had better luck.
Reply 17 of 23
gentooguyPosts: 23member
April 21, 2020 3:42PM
How on earth was Vudu or anyone else "stealing" from iTunes? Isn't anyone on here aware that Apple was far from the first company to sell digital downloads of music, books and movies? Apple didn't even invent the tech for iTunes ... they bought it (SoundJam). According to your own standards, Apple should have never been allowed to sell anything through iTunes anyway. Or have an App Store, as that was "stealing" from Palm and Microsoft, who had app stores on their mobile devices years before Apple did and furthermore Apple was originally adamantly opposed to the idea. And why does Safari exist? Apple didn't invent the web browser either. How about iCloud? Is Apple stealing from DropBox and Google Drive? Isn't Apple TV stealing from Netflix then? And isn't Apple Music stealing from Spotify, Google Play and the many other companies that had those products first? Isn't the Apple Watch stealing from Wear OS, Galaxy Gear, Fitbit and a ton of other companies with smart wearables years before? Good grief ...
Reply 18 of 23
StrangeDaysPosts: 12,930member
April 21, 2020 5:15PM
the monk said:
seanismorris said:
I had no idea they were in the video streaming market.
Me neither which is why they’re probably closing down. They wanted to be like an Amazon. For Pete’s sake, stick to what you know.
Eh,if Amazon had done that they’d still be selling books.
Branching out is fine, you just have to learn to get good at it. Maybe having multiple brands for retail vs streaming video wasn’t a great strategy? Who knows.
The real problem I have with auxiliary rental services is why bother using them at all? iTunes already does rentals and the prices are almost always the exact same. Maybe once in a while there is a different older movie price in the back catalog, but I can only think of finding that once for me. But for those with iTunes maybe it’s viable. Or maybe there are too many choices already.
Reply 19 of 23
StrangeDaysPosts: 12,930member
April 21, 2020 5:19PM
JinTech said:
Great so from one failed streaming business to a new streaming business (Fandango.) It's ironic "cord cutting" has become the new streaming alternative which in the long run, is starting to add up to be more expensive than cable.
The hell it is. My internet service plus custom subscriptions to a couple services when I want them is far less than the huge cable bills people in my family pay for.
Reply 20 of 23
linkmanPosts: 1,036member
April 21, 2020 6:59PM
hodar said:
One feature that Vudu used to have, that I enjoyed a lot - was the option to take YOUR DVD (they used your GPS address, and matched it against your address on your profile), and allowed you to scan the UPC code off the DVD/Blu-ray (or later on, just put it into your computer DVD/Blu-ray drive), then buy a SD for $2, or the Blu-Ray digital copy for $5. I expanded my digital library by close to 100 titles using this feature.
It's now disabled.
I would love to see someone else pick this up and run with it. I would love to have digital copies of many DVD's I own, and for $5 I can justify upgrading the DVD to Blu-Ray on many titles I already own.
@hodar Vudu still offers this in their Mobile Disc 2 Digital program. I used it a few days ago for several titles. They dropped the in home portion (i.e.: using an optical disc) and instead now only support it using a smartphone. They also only allow it on the web site -- no longer can you use their mobile app (this allows them to bypass Apple's cut of the profits). Of course a bunch of studios don't allow it either, and with Disney's acquisition of Fox the list of allowed titles is getting thinner. They limit it to 100/year per account where the old optical disc method allowed unlimited conversions. https://vudu.com/disc
«12»
Sign In or Register to comment.
