Wal-Mart Quits Movie Download Service

12.28.07 - 04:13pm

Just on the heels of Apple’s announcement that it will be renting downloadable movies though iTunes comes the closure of WalMart’s highly touted DVD movie download buying service.

Wal-Mart only opened its video download store 11 short months ago and has already called it quits due to less than expected performance. Wal-Mart was the first to have movie contracts with all the major studios, something Apple had been trying to due but was unable to pull off due to Apple’s insistence on offering the movies for $9.99. Wal-mart offered the movies for $12.88 to $19.88, but was not able to sell them at the higher price. After all why buy a movie to download that you can only play on one computer when you can buy the DVD for the same price or just a couple dollars more and play it anywhere, anytime? Apple in spite of not having all the new movies was still able to stay ahead with their $9.99 price tag.

Category: apple | Tags: itunes, movie-downloads, walmart | Be the First to Comment »

Starz Files Suit Against Disney Over iTunes Movies

03.23.07 - 02:15pm

As digital media takes over, old long standing contracts that have been around for years are getting blighted. Starz and Disney have had one of these contracts signed first in 1993 and again in 1999. The contract gives Starz an 18-month exclusive window to sell Disney’s DVDs or films and to offer them online for one-time use or for short periods. Starz says that Disney’s selling of the videos in digital downloadable format through iTunes and Walmart violates that right and has now filed a lawsuit against their partner.

“I applaud them for being aggressive in new technology, but not when it violates our contract,” Starz Chief Executive Robert Clasen said.

Starz has cited 50 movies in which they claim exclusive rights paid for with over 1 billion dollars have been violated, among them National Treasure, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, Shop Girl and the English Patient.

Category: itunes | Tags: itunes, lawsuit, starz_entertainment, walmart | Be the First to Comment »