Audio Video News

Walmart has launched itself into the video streaming business in a big way with the acquisition of Vudu.

The purchase price is raising eyebrows. Walmart paid $100 million for Vudu. However, given Walmart's large share of the market for discs, its entry into streaming is not entirely unexpected.

Vudu has cut lots of streaming deals with CE manufacturers, getting its feed into TVs and Blu-ray players from LG, Mitsubishi, Samsung, Sanyo, Sharp, Toshiba, and Vizio (but not Panasonic or Sony). Walmart already sells some of those hardware brands.

Noted Pete Putman of HDTVexpert.com: "This is significant because VUDU picture quality tends to be higher than iTunes and Netflix streaming video. In fact, many VUDU movies can be downloaded in the 1080p/24 format for true HD playback."

However, Walmart will be imposing restrictions on Vudu content. For starters: no porn.

See The New York Times and press release.