Wal-Mart cancels movie download program

posted by Michael Zoldessy on December 28, 2007 at 7:45 am

Wal-Mart has eliminated its movie download service after less than year.

Wal-Mart shut down the download site after Hewlett Packard Co discontinued the technology that powered it, Walmart.com spokeswoman Amy Colella said in an e-mail. She added that it will not look for another technology partner.

HP spokesman Hector Marinez said the company decided to discontinue its video download-only merchant store services because the market for paid video downloads did not perform “as expected.” He noted that the Internet video business remains uncertain and is changing rapidly.

Wal-Mart will continue offering physical DVDs for sale at its stores and online, but would not continue the online downloads business, said Colella, who declined to disclose the number of downloads sold on the site.

Maybe a sign that consumers still want something they can touch or maybe it was just marketed poorly? Probably not the last we’ll see of operations like this.

Read more at Reuters.