Walmart is considering a sale of its video streaming service Vudu.according to a recent report. It is not known how much the company expects to sell the service for nor whether is has hired bankers to help with the sale.
Walmart bought Vudu in 2010 for $100 million.
A recent article notes: "Word of Walmart’s desire to sell Vudu comes days before Disney and Apple each launch video streaming services meant to compete with Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Video. Vudu offers a different kind of video service, allowing people to rent or buy individual shows or movies, in what is essentially an electronic version of a video rental store. "
Why Walmart may be selling Vudu
The video streaming market is now becoming increasingly crowded with giants such as Apple launching Apple TV Plus and Disney also launching a service next month. NBC and HBO are also offering services next year. The Vudu digital rental and purchase model has also declined in popularity. Now customers want subscription services that stream content. These type of services are becoming the norm.
However Vudu has its virtues and has always been consided one of the better places to stream a movies as the video quality is excellent. Vudu was also a player in UltraViolet a disc-to-digital program that allowed customers to add their collection to the cloud. Vudu now supports Movies Anywhere as well.
Wikipedia describes Movies Anywhere as follows: "Movies Anywhere is a United States-exclusive cloud-based digital locker and over-the-top streaming platform operated by The Walt Disney Company.[3] The service allows users to stream and download purchased films, including digital copies redeemed from codes found in home video releases as well as digital purchases from participating services. The platform provides content from Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros., and Walt Disney Studios.[4] The system utilizes an internal platform known as KeyChest, which synchronizes content licenses from digital distribution platforms linked to a central user account. "
Walmart has been investing in Vudu
Walmart has been investing in Vudu and has considerable new original content. Apparently Walmart even considered launching a subscription streaming service last year. However sources report that Walmart now considers it would cost too much to turn Vudu around and it no longer makes financial sense to do so.
A recent statement from Walmart is rather coy about mentioning the issue of selling: “Over the last nine years, we’ve built Vudu into an incredibly strong and growing business with an installed base of more than 100 million devices across America...We’re constantly having and [are] open to conversations with new and existing partners to explore opportunities for continued growth; however, we never share details of those discussions.”
Previously published in the Digital Journal
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