• Los Angeles Times, Tuesday, February 23, 2010 10:39 AM

In acquiring the struggling digital distributor Vudu, Wal-Mart Stores -- currently the largest seller of DVDs in the country -- is speaking with its checkbook about what it sees as the future of the industry. It will probably push Vudu when it sells TVs or high-definition Blu-ray players with built-in Internet connections, Dawn C. Chmielewski and Ben Fritz report.

"Presumably with the power Wal-Mart has, it will be able to strongly suggest to consumer electronics manufacturers that the Vudu service be embedded in the devices that it sells," says digital media consultant Bruce Eisen.

Other video rental companies -- Netflix and Redbox in particular; Zune and Apple, less so -- are Vudu's main competitors, writes Fast Company's Dan Nosowitz, who points out that Redbox kiosks are in thousands of Walmart stores. "Now the little company that could has to contend with one of its biggest partners essentially backing a different horse," he writes. Redbox declined to comment.

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