Walmart is reportedly gearing up to launch an online video streaming service that will rival Netflix later this year. It will also go up against competing services from Amazon and Hulu. Walmart’s service will reportedly be offered under the Vudu name and it’s said to be similar to other streaming services, offering licensed as well as original content.
Variety reports that Walmart’s Vudu streaming service may cost around $8 per month. Walmart’s interest in launching a video-on-demand service was also reported recently by The Information.
Vudu isn’t competing in the streaming market currently. It’s a movie rental service which offers people over 150,000 titles to rent or purchase. A limited selection is available for free to those who subscribe to its Movies On Us service that also happens to be supported by ads.
Walmart had acquired Vudu back in 2010 and while it’s no longer developing its own set-top boxes, the brand name still holds some value in the smart TV market. It’s now available as a pre-installed app on different smart TVs and streaming devices.
Vudu has been around for long enough to have relationships with studios and television networks. It can thus leverage those relationships to ink streaming deals which will be crucial for its streaming service. As for when the service might arrive, the report mentions that a launch is planned for the fourth quarter of this year.