Wal-Mart Launches Video-Download Service

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. launched an online video-download service Tuesday, offering some 3,000 movies from most major studios.

The store’s beta version, which still had some bugs when United Press International canvassed it, also includes programming from Fox Broadcasting, MTV, Nickelodeon and other networks, but not from ABC, CBS or NBC.

The nation’s largest retailer hopes to beat other download services by offering films for as little as $7.50 and TV episodes for $1.96.

New releases are available for video download on the day of the DVD release and range from $12.88 to $19.88, catalog titles start at about $7.50 and TV shows are $1.96 per episode.

Besides the download service, Wal-Mart said it will offer DVD-digital movie bundles for select titles throughout the year.

Apple Inc.’s iTunes store charges $2 for a TV episode.

Wal-Mart’s movies will not play on Apple computers or the iPod.

The Bentonville, Ark., retailer accounts for about 40 percent of DVD sales. The company does not expect download sales to cannibalize its retail DVD business for many years.

Bugs with Wal-Mart’s beta site included incompatibility with Mozilla Firefox Web browsers, the UPI canvass found.