DISNEY - WAL-MART SIGNS DOWNLOADING DEAL WITH STUDIOS

Wal-Mart has reached an agreement with each of the major motion picture studios to sell movies that can be downloaded from its website (www.walmart.com/videodownloads), the New York Times reported today. Three other websites, including Amazon.com, CinemaNow, and iTunes currently offer movie downloads, but none of them includes films from all of the major studios, including Disney, Warner Bros., Paramount, Sony, 20th Century Fox, and Universal. In reporting the deal, the Times observed: "Given the chain's penchant for price cutting, could drive down the cost of a digital download." Initially it will charge $12.88 to $19.88 on the day of a DVD release; older movies will be priced at about $7.50; TV shows, at $1.96 per episode, about the same prices as other download websites and about the same as those for DVDs sold in the stores.

06/02/2007