Walmart is considering selling its 15-year old Vudu on-demand video service, say people familiar with the situation, a sign of how the digital video business has evolved from on-demand rentals and purchases to streaming.
Word of Walmart’s desire to sell Vudu comes days before Disney and Apple each launch video streaming services meant to compete with Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Video. Vudu offers a different kind of video service, allowing people to rent or buy individual shows or movies, in what is essentially an electronic version of a video rental store. While a decade ago that market was expected to replace the DVD market, it has instead been leapfrogged by the emergence of subscription video streaming services which let people watch as much as they want for a flat monthly fee.
