Dec 30
Wal-Mart Shuts Online Movie Downloads
Little Rock, AR — The world’s biggest retailer, Wal-Mart, has closed its video downloading service less than a year after it started selling films online.
The retreat for Wal-Mart, which accounts for about 40 percent of all DVD sales, follows the company’s 2005 decision to abandoned efforts to build an online DVD rental service. The world’s largest retailer instead turned its rental service over to Netflix.
It stopped the service on Dec 21, according to a message on the discount chain’s video download website. Wal-Mart said the decision had been forced by Hewlett-Packard withdrawing the software running the site.
The move ends a challenge to Apple’s iTunes store, Amazon and Netflix to win customers who rent films over the web.
The market for online video downloads has become very competitive with video rental chain Blockbuster buying Movielink over the summer to expand into this area.