The largest company in the world has its sights set on mounting a challenge to Netflix and Amazon in the streaming space. Ars Technica reports that Walmart — which had revenues of about $486 billion last year, according to Fortune — may be the next big company to join the streaming wars.
“The retailer is reportedly considering launching its own video streaming service to battle Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. But Walmart wants to undercut its competition by pricing its service at $8 per month — or lower,” Ars Technica reports.
Ars Technica cites a report by The Information.
Ars Technica adds: “According to the report, the $8-per-month price comes from the idea that Netflix and Amazon are more popular with customers on the East and West Coasts. Customers living in the middle of America may gravitate toward a lower-cost option. Currently, Netflix prices its service between $8 and $14 per month, while Amazon Prime Video is roughly $8 per month.”
Walmart already owns VUDU. It is a similar model to Amazon with free and rent/buy options. The main difference is that its free is with ads, rather than a “prime” membership. And the quality of the free content would be considered mediocre, compared to Amazon. To see anything other than if you are watching with your grandma you must pay. Even movies like Jaws, Alien and Psycho, have a charge. Plus it has one of the worst interfaces on the Net. All that said, though, it would not require a lot or work to upgrade the site to be competitive with the others if they are able to get some compelling content.
Programming will be cheap ass shit