Walmart is looking to offer its customers a streaming service, and has its eyes set on some pretty big players in the industry. Major companies have made the move to streaming over the last several years to compete with Netflix, which became the leader in the industry. Even with Wall Street projections beginning to sour on streaming, there is still interest from Walmart to get in the game. According to The New York Times, Walmart is looking to add a streaming service to its Walmart+ subscription offering, and has reached out to the likes of Walt Disney Company, Comcast Corp, and Paramount Global.
Of course, the streaming services the three companies could provide Walmart are Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ from Walt Disney, Peacock from Comcast, and Paramount+ from Paramount. If any such deals were able to be agreed upon, it would be one of the first streaming service bundles, something customers have been begging for since the industry exploded. Instead of subscribing to individual streaming services with separate bills, a bundle under the Walmart+ banner would theoretically reduce the need for separate bills.
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Walmart+ launched in 2020 and offers members reduced prices on gas, free shipping on online orders, scan and go from physical stores using a mobile device, and more, all for the price of $12.95 a month or $98 a year. Walmart recently added an offer for six-months free of Spotify, the streaming music service.
This isn’t the first time Walmart has shown interest in streaming. 2020 was also the year Walmart sold Vudu to Fandango after neglecting the service. Walmart+ can be considered a competitor to Amazon Prime, which makes the former’s interest in streaming all the more interesting. Amazon has Prime Video, with a robust catalog of licensed and original content including The Boys, Invincible, and the upcoming Lord of the Rings series. Prime Video is included with an Amazon Prime membership, which costs $149 a month or $139 a year.
There is no word on where talks between Walmart, Disney, Comcast, and Paramount remain at this time. Warner Bros. Discovery has been in the news recently after word broke the company was shelving the Batgirl DC movie for HBO Max. WBD held its 2Q 2022 earnings call last Thursday, where it confirmed that HBO Max and discovery+ would be merged into one service in 2023. It also reassured fans that it was dedicated to growing the DC brand, with a 10-year plan for DC Films also revealed.
