Walmart Unveils Disc-to-Digital Video Service
By: Kara Tsuboi, CNET.com for CBS News
Updated: March 15, 2012
Retail giant Walmart announced a new plan on Tuesday for watching your favorite movies. Starting in April, customers can pay to transfer their DVDs to digital copies so they can watch those titles on multiple devices.
"We are excited to announce the launch of Walmart entertainment's exclusive, in-store, disc-to-digital service powered by Vudu," said John Aden, Executive Vice President of Walmart.
Walmart, the largest retailer in the world has teamed up with five of six major movie studios to provide a digital version of movies that consumers can stream on multiple devices.
"Vudu will allow our customers to convert their physical DVD libraries into digital libraries," Aden said.
Here's how the plan would work:
*Customers would bring their actual DVDs from the five studios -- Fox, Paramount, Sony, Universal and Warner
Brothers -- to a Walmart photo counter.
*Once they open a free Vudu account, Walmart's web streaming service, they'll receive an access code for that specific title to stream through a variety of devices: smartphones, tablets, laptops, game consoles and more.
"I think its an interesting deal between Walmart and the studios, but I'm not sure if the other leg of the triangle, the consumers, is there," says Rafe Needleman, editor at large for CNET.com.
A standard conversion will cost two dollars per disc. An upgrade to the high-definition version, will cost five dollars.
"The fee structure, I think it's a little bit high," Needleman says. "It really is a way for the studios to take ownership of the licensing and the redistribution of their content while at the same time giving the consumer some measure of convenience for playing the film wherever they want."
Analysts add the deal benefits Hollywood studios, they now have a big retail partner embracing the new "cloud" technology. And Walmart is betting consumers will do the same.
(Kara Tsuboi, CNET.com for CBS News)
"We are excited to announce the launch of Walmart entertainment's exclusive, in-store, disc-to-digital service powered by Vudu," said John Aden, Executive Vice President of Walmart.
Walmart, the largest retailer in the world has teamed up with five of six major movie studios to provide a digital version of movies that consumers can stream on multiple devices.
"Vudu will allow our customers to convert their physical DVD libraries into digital libraries," Aden said.
Here's how the plan would work:
*Customers would bring their actual DVDs from the five studios -- Fox, Paramount, Sony, Universal and Warner
Brothers -- to a Walmart photo counter.
*Once they open a free Vudu account, Walmart's web streaming service, they'll receive an access code for that specific title to stream through a variety of devices: smartphones, tablets, laptops, game consoles and more.
"I think its an interesting deal between Walmart and the studios, but I'm not sure if the other leg of the triangle, the consumers, is there," says Rafe Needleman, editor at large for CNET.com.
A standard conversion will cost two dollars per disc. An upgrade to the high-definition version, will cost five dollars.
"The fee structure, I think it's a little bit high," Needleman says. "It really is a way for the studios to take ownership of the licensing and the redistribution of their content while at the same time giving the consumer some measure of convenience for playing the film wherever they want."
Analysts add the deal benefits Hollywood studios, they now have a big retail partner embracing the new "cloud" technology. And Walmart is betting consumers will do the same.
(Kara Tsuboi, CNET.com for CBS News)
