"Wal-Mart Is Said to Be Buying Vudu Movie Service"

[vudu4me]

Re: "Wal-Mart Is Said to Be Buying Vudu Movie Service"

This just plain stinks!

It's not like there's a large cross section of vudu customers and Wal*Mart customers so I don't see the compatibility. Heck, Wal*Mart doesn't even sell the high end HDTVs and Blu-ray players that would have vudu. One company has the image of being low class in everything they do and the other provides the best video quality. Where's the connection? What am I missing?

I would have much preferred vudu selling their technology to Netflix. One has a huge selection of physical media and the other a large streaming video library.

Don't be surprise that the next thing to go will be the unrated versions of movies.

I noticed there hasn't been any moderators commenting on the acquisition. The cat must have caught their tongues.

[Alan Smithee]

Re: "Wal-Mart Is Said to Be Buying Vudu Movie Service"

They've already said the adult titles will be removed. This is reason for me to not only stop watching movies on Vudu, but also to stop shopping at Wal-Mart's stores. It's one thing for them to not want to carry porn in their stores if they deem it unsuitable, it's another to take it away from a service that already had it. REDUCING the amount of material available is never a good thing. For those who find this stuff offensive, there were already plenty of ways to get rid of it- the listings didn't even show up unless you specifically requested them to.

Wal-Mart's ultimate goal is to own EVERYTHING, and if that happens then their will will be imposed on EVERYTHING as well.

[Schwack]

Re: "Wal-Mart Is Said to Be Buying Vudu Movie Service"

Like some of the comments here, I'm not a big fan of Wal-Mart. I try to avoid them as much as possible. I grew up in a small town in Illinois and when they came in the area, all of the mom-n-pops went out of business. Now, I understand how they provide "value" to their customers but I don't shop there.

However, being a Vudu customer....I believe this could be a positive step. Keep Vudu afloat, hopefully allow more same day movie availability, and hopefully cheaper HDX movies!

I'm not a fan of the adult movie section...however I've always been against censorship, like Blockbuster, on adult titles and hope Wal-mart doesn't cave in to their religious zealot backers.

[cmunguia]

Wal-Mart to buy Vudu

So Wal-Mart is taking over Vudu, how will this affect all current customers?

[aaronwt]

Re: "Wal-Mart Is Said to Be Buying Vudu Movie Service"

While I really like Walmart. I spend thousands each year there, and their warranties are much better and return periods longer than other stores like Best Buy. I'm not sure how I feel about them buying VUDU. I don't use the After Dark content so I guess as long as it doesn't affect mainstream movies I will be all for it. And with a big player like Walmart maybe the price can go down a dollar.

[GrantC]

Re: "Wal-Mart Is Said to Be Buying Vudu Movie Service"

"The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural."

[rgbyhkr]

Re: "Wal-Mart Is Said to Be Buying Vudu Movie Service"

So, Vudu staff, what will that mean for already-purchased content, or rented content that has not yet been watched?

Good question. Perhaps they'll ban users who have consumed such content or perhaps just send them shameful messages chastising viewing of that which they deem inappropriate?

Note: If there was a sarcasm font, I would have used it.

[MaxH]

Re: "Wal-Mart Is Said to Be Buying Vudu Movie Service"

One wonders what this means for the adult services... and any other content deemed not to be "family friendly."

From the NYT:

Vudu also has a plentiful selection of pornographic movies available to its customers. A person briefed on the Wal-Mart deal said the retailer would close down that category ?immediately.?

So, Vudu staff, what will that mean for already-purchased content, or rented content that has not yet been watched?

[MaxH]

Re: "Wal-Mart Is Said to Be Buying Vudu Movie Service"

I share your distaste for and avoidance of Walmart, Bigguy, but I still have to say that this is probably a good move for Vudu. As a startup they got their name up their with Apple and Netflix, but they needed this kind of corporate relationship if they want to become THE name in VOD. I had thought that they might enter into this kind of relationship with an electronics company like Phillips or Toshiba (anyone but Sony, really, who would probably create yet another proprietary format), but considering they already have partnerships with a bunch of manufacturers, they might be better off being owned by someone without a dog in that fight, so there's no pitting one against the other like with Blu-Ray/HD-DVD.

[Bigguy]

Re: "Wal-Mart Is Said to Be Buying Vudu Movie Service"

They lost a customer here. I haven't shopped or stepped foot in A Wal-Mart or Sam's Club in 5 yrs. I won't give them a dime of my money.

[Alan Smithee]

Re: "Wal-Mart Is Said to Be Buying Vudu Movie Service"

Yep, sad to say that if this happens and Amazon's VOD quality gets better (I have both built into my Vizio TV) I'll be using Amazon just on principle (and no, I didn't buy my TV at Wal-Mart, I ordered it straight from Vizio.)

If Wal-Mart yanks the porn from Vudu I wonder if a new service will pick it up? Back when laserdiscs were the best format out there, Disney struck a deal with Image Entertainment to distribute their titles, but a condition was that they had to stop doing porn- Image was actually started by people in the porn business and their first LD titles were classic porn movies. They got around the Disney deal by letting one of their sons start a new company that just distributed adult movies called LaserDisc Entertainment- their packaging still looked similar to Image's discs. (I was a little surprised that Disney apparently doesn't have a problem with their stuff being on Vudu along with porn- I think their main concern was if the wrong label got put on the wrong disc or tape.)

[rstone]

Re: "Wal-Mart Is Said to Be Buying Vudu Movie Service"

I try to do as little business as possible with Wal-Mart anyways because of how they treat their employees and bully the companies that supply them.

I'm with you on that, I stay away from Walmart at all cost, and would only ever shop there is a last resort! I'm not so sure I like the idea of throwing money at walmart.

[Alan Smithee]

Re: "Wal-Mart Is Said to Be Buying Vudu Movie Service"

I've read that the acquisition is now official, and also fear for the future of the After Dark selection. I try to do as little business as possible with Wal-Mart anyways because of how they treat their employees and bully the companies that supply them.

[mebby]

Re: "Wal-Mart Is Said to Be Buying Vudu Movie Service"

I see your point and I agree, mebby. But I do think that, the more people have Vudu available on their t.v. sets and DVD players, the more people will discover this service -- and the more films and t.v. shows will be added. The growth of Vudu might mean that their awesome tech-support guys will be able to answer our questions within a few hours, but it will certainly mean that Wal-Mart's might will increase the size of Vudu's library.

Yea - I don't disagree with you. My only issue is the stigma associate with Wal-Mart and quality. But hopefully this will be a positive development for everyone.

[Rhodes553]

Re: "Wal-Mart Is Said to Be Buying Vudu Movie Service"

One wonders what this means for the adult services... and any other content deemed not to be "family friendly."