Future outlook for Vudu?

[Cassandraann1]

Anyone have thoughts or insight as to the future of Vudu? I saw news from this fall that Walmart has been looking to sell Vudu. I know the market is getting more crowded with services like Disney+ (Plus NBCUniversal and HBO Max streaming services coming next year). I?ve also read that the market is more in favor of subscription services instead of rentals and purchases.

My concern is that I will lose TV show purchases if VUDU is shut down. I?m contemplating buying a TV series that is currently on sale, but it?s not worth it for me if I will lose it within the next couple of years.

ps - no clue why my apostrophes are showing as question marks. They look like apostrophes until I save my post, and then they are changed to question marks.

[bestquality]

Your apostrophes probably come up as ?s because you're using a Mac or some device that isn't using simple ASCII apostrophes.

[VuduAddict]

Unfortunately we won't know what will happen. Based on Wal-Mart's comment regarding the potential sale, I don't think it looks good as far as Wal-Mart's continued ownership, otherwise they would deny the sale rumors. I personally have purchased a couple of shows that I wanted to complete, but since they were already on sale and they were the final seasons, knowing full well I may lose access to the content later on. If you want to play it safe, it would probably be best to buy only movies that are Movies Anywhere compatible, but like I said, none of us know what is going to happen, so it could also be that Vudu is still around for longer than we expect. I understand the fears though, as I share them. I have switched over to iTunes mostly after Wal-Mart's statement.

[echopulse]

Wal-mart didn't make a statement. It's a rumor from a website called "The Information, which quoted "people familliar with the matter". I don't put much faith in reports with un-named sources these days.

[bestquality]

Walmart: "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."

What that isn't - a denial. If it wasn't reconsidering it's strategy with Vudu, Walmart would have been unequivocal. It's not the rumor from The Information that mattered, it's the non-denial from Walmart that does.

[VuduAddict]

Wal-mart didn't make a statement. It's a rumor from a website called "The Information, which quoted "people familliar with the matter". I don't put much faith in reports with un-named sources these days.

They did comment on this when asked about it, they did not deny it, and only said they do not share details of those discussions. They would not have commented this way if they planned to keep Vudu, because it would affect sales and confidence in the service from those who use it or thought to use it. It has affected me, I used to spend hundreds each month at Vudu, I think I spent less than $60 the entire month of December, a month where I would have spent at least $500-600. Wal-Mart would have denied the accuracy of the report if it had been untrue. This information has also been covered by additional sources other than The Information, just recently The Wall Street Journal has independently mentioned that Vudu is not part of Wal-Mart's future strategy when discussing their information about Wal-Mart's future strategies to compete with Amazon.

[lujan]

I have to say I'm not very surprised about this since Walmart never did incorporate Vudu in their corporate structure. It has always been that Vudu is like a complete separate company.

380 UHD
767 HDX
3 SD

[echopulse]

Someone said they are having, and are open to discussions with partners to explore opportunities for continued growth. That doesn't sound to me like they want to dump it.

They recently launched several new features, including Family Play, Rental Refunds, and even original movies. And some new features are being developed this year. They just recently announced the next beta testing phase.


The discussions could be about expanding their original content, installing their app on new devices such as Smart TV's that don't have it, or the Fire TV. They just put out a new movie the other day.

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," the company said in a statement to The Information, "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."

[bestquality]

You haven't spent much time reading PR and IR statements then. Believe what you like.

[VuduAddict]

You haven't spent much time reading PR and IR statements then. Believe what you like.

I was about to say this same thing, exactly.

[TestDrvr]

In my opinion, Vudu shouldn't try to become a "me-too" streaming service because they will probably fail and waste a lot of money in the process that could be better spent elsewhere. They should just stick with what they do best (over all the other retailers), and provide the best service to those who want to buy/store/watch their movies and TV shows on-line and have access to them across many devices. There are just too many other deep-pocketed big names throwing tons money at streaming right now, and in the end most people are not going pay to subscribe to 4-5 streaming services every month. People have been dropping their $200+ monthy cable TV bills with 200 channels. Why would they want to go back to paying for multiple streaming services every month.

The folks on a budget are only going to pay for 1-2 streaming services at a time. I for one selected Netflix and Amazon Prime (which is already included in your Prime service). If I want a movie from Disney, I'll rent or buy it on sale. If you have little kids who watch a lot of TV, then go for Disney+.

The reason Disney+ got 10 millions subscribers already is they are giving the service away for free for 1 year to all verizon wireless customers with unlimited plans. Apple TV+ gives you a free year if you have bought a new Apple PC/iphone.

Even if you aren't on a budget, you can't possibly watch enough on 4-5 streaming services to justify the cost, and besides it is a waste of your hard earned dollars.Select 1-2 with the most bang for your buck, and give them your money.

Anyways, I for one hope Vudu stays in business as it has been my main choice for buying/redeeming digital movies for many years. iTunes is my second choice.

[quackman]

Well said.

[mike1sc]

With what seems to be a new service opening every month or so, in my opinion, Vudu should center itself around a service it provides better than anyone else out there, and that is the 4K disc+digital program. I think it is great getting a 4K UHD new release early digitally, and two or three weeks later get the actual physical disc (with slipcover I might add). This is a great service for those who collect and maintain both digital libraries and physical disc libraries. Vudu will never beat Apple or Movies Anywhere on streaming levels, but no one has a service that can compete with Vudu's disc+digital program. That is why this service is vital to Vudu's future health in the industry.

[B2Net]

Right now VUDU is the only place to do Disc to Digital.

[mike1sc]

Right now VUDU is the only place to do Disc to Digital.

Disc to Digital and Disc+Digital are two completely different programs. One program converts a disc you already have into a digital form. The other program is where you purchase the digital form, get the digital version before the disc's release date, and then on the release date, receive the new disc of the same movie. What I was talking about is the second program mentioned, the Disc+Digital.