Walmart is the latest big brand to make a push for the streaming market, with the retailer planning to enter the competition with a subscription-video service through its Vudu digital-entertainment division, Variety reports.
The company is reportedly planning a service that would include licensed television shows and movies along with original work, much like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon all now have.
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Such a service would put Walmart in even more direct competition with Amazon, which has a low-cost subscription video-on-demand package with a target price of $8 per month, which has its own streaming video network as well as being a retail giant like Walmart.
The service is tentatively scheduled to launch in the fourth quarter of 2018, so customers may not have to wait too long to start streaming.
A rep for Vudu declined to comment on the potential service, writing in an email, “We don’t comment on rumors and speculation.”
Sources say that Walmart was looking into a similar service in early 2017 but scrapped the idea at the time. Sources also confirmed that Walmart has reached out to companies in regard to licensing deals.
A former Walmart executive expressed surprise at the potential service, explaining that they would have expected the company to form a partnership in the area rather than attempting to build and launch its own service.
Walmart customers are likely already familiar with Vudu, as the brand acts as Walmart’s online video destination, currently offering customers 150,000 titles to buy or rent on-demand.
Over the past few years, streaming has seen a huge rise, with platforms offering their own content that has become just as, if not more, popular than the content it licenses. Netflix, Hulu and Amazon all have projects that have earned Emmy nominations this year, proving that streaming is here to stay.
In addition, Netflix is being credited with helping to revive the rom-com, with its original movies Set It Up and The Kissing Booth receiving plenty of attention on social media and doing their part in the genre’s reported resurgence.
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