Bentonville, Ark. - Retail giant Wal-Mart on Tuesday announced the launch of a beta version of its new video download service, which initially will offer more than 3,000 movies and TV shows for purchase and download from its website.

Wal-Mart said HP's Video Merchant Services is powering the store, which will feature titles from all of the major Hollywood studios.

Noticeably absent from the list of partners, though, were the major broadcast networks ABC, CBS and NBC, which have all contributed content to Apple's iTunes Store; Wal-Mart did reach deals to offer TV shows from Fox and Viacom's stable of channels, including MTV and Comedy Central.

Typical of Wal-Mart's discount pricing strategy, TV shows on the site will be sold for $1.96 each (compared with $1.99 on iTunes), while older films will start at $7.50 each; new movie releases available on the same day of their DVD release will be priced at between $12.88 and $19.88.

The retailer said it will also continue to offer occasional bundles that include a physical DVD, and the option to download the film to a PC and portable devices for an additional fee.

"This marks a significant step for Wal-Mart in home video, and enables us to better serve our customers as they begin to complement their DVD purchases with downloading of digital video content," said Kevin Swint, Wal-Mart's divisional merchandise manager for digital media.

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/yw283q

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/06/technology/06video.html

http://www.walmart.com/videodownloads