Will Wal-Mart join Apple, Amazon and others and open a video store too? According to Engadget, It appears it might.
Yes, the industry is in a video frame of mind.
Much of the “progress” in the video market has been due to the growth of broadband connections–video is more practical than ever to distribute digitally. However, there are still bigger, more thorny rights issues to work through. That’s one reason I continue to predict that TV over the Internet will continue to outshine the movie studios for the next year or so. Actually, this is the TV networks’ opportunity to gain some ground. NBC, ABC, and CBS are all experimenting with partial Internet distribution of their content. If I were them, I’d push it even further. Why? Because advertising supported distribution is a market they know well and it’s a model that’s been working well on the Internet. The movie studios have the challenge of negotiating with the consumer how much downloaded movies should cost. It’s not a settled issue. Yes, the major networks have the issue of competing against their network partners, however, that means they should offer up other business oportunities–not hold back their own innovation and growth. We’ll have to see how it all settles out.