Walmart launches its own movie streaming service powered by Vudu

All the way back in February of this year, Walmart acquired Vudu, a company that developed a movie streaming service. Today, Walmart announced that it will be integrating Vudu services onto Walmart.com, allowing customers to watch and stream movies. "Customers can now shop for thousands of digital VUDU titles, including the hottest new releases, and purchase and/or rent them directly on Walmart.com at www.walmart.com/vudu."

Walmart says that, since customers already browse for movies at Walmart.com, it only makes sense to stream those movies. Movie streaming is available directly from Walmart's website, Vudu.com, or any of the 300+ Vudu-enabled devices including the PlayStation 3. 

“At Walmart, one of our key priorities is to provide a continuous channel for our customers, from our stores to our powerful e-commerce and social media platforms,” said Steve Nave, SVP and general manager, Walmart.com. “With VUDU becoming increasingly popular among our customers, we're providing them more access to enjoy this digital entertainment experience directly online at Walmart.com.”

“This integration allows us to introduce more Walmart.com customers to digital entertainment and give them access to thousands of new release and popular movie titles immediately through VUDU's high-quality streaming service,” said Edward Lichty, general manager, VUDU. “By incorporating digital movie content into the Walmart.com entertainment shopping experience, we're enabling customers to easily choose how they want to enjoy their entertainment content – whether that be through a physical DVD, digital streaming or both.”

To celebrate the launch, Walmart will be holding a customer vote on its Facebook page as to which of three movies will be available for streaming for only $0.99 this Friday. The titles are:

• “Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2: Rodrick Rules” (PG)
• “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1” (PG-13)
• “Gnomeo and Juliet” (PG)