BDx13
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this kind of heavy handedness in pisses me off.
RETAIL-IATION
WAL-MART WARNS STUDIOS OVER DVD DOWNLOADS
September 22, 2006 -- Worried about its massive DVD sales, retail behemoth Wal-Mart has told some of Hollywood's biggest players it will retaliate
against them for selling movies on Apple's iTunes.
Last year when Disney announced it would begin offering episodes of the hit shows "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives" on Apple's iTunes, the reaction of
the world's largest retailer sent shockwaves through the entertainment industry.
Wal-Mart, worried that offering the shows for viewing on iPods would cut into DVD sales at its stores, sent "cases and cases" of DVDs back to Disney,
according to a source familiar with the matter.
Now, following Apple's entrance in to the business of selling full-length films for download, the battle between Hollywood and its largest client is
getting uglier, as studio executives say Wal-Mart has overtly threatened to retaliate if they go into business with Apple.
So far, Apple has only inked a deal with one studio - Disney - on whose board Apple boss Steve Jobs sits. But after seeing the success Apple had in
creating a legal download business for the music industry, the movie industry would like to come aboard.
"We all want to be in the Apple business," said one high-level executive at a major movie studio. But Apple's pricing - $9.99 to $14.99 - is lower
than DVD prices at Wal-Mart.
The studios generally charge Wal-Mart a wholesale price of $17.95 for new DVDs, while Apple is paying Disney a wholesale price of about $14.50 per
film, according to a studio source.
The last thing studios want to do before the holiday shopping season is to offend their biggest sales outlet; the studios, collectively, rely on
Wal-Mart for some $5 billion of DVD sales in the fourth quarter.
But several weeks ago, in the midst of rumors that Apple was close to announcing a deal with Disney, Wal-Mart's David Porter - the executive
responsible for stocking the retailer's shelves with DVDs and CDs and whose influence is so immense in Tinseltown that he's been named to Premiere
magazine's annual power list - made the rounds of Hollywood studios.
His message, according to a studio exec involved in the discussions: that there would be "serious ramifications" if the studios hopped in bed with
Apple.
"They threatened to hurt us in terms of buying less products," said this person.
The situation between Bentonville and Hollywood has gotten so heated and so high-level that Jobs recently phoned Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott to ask him to
moderate his stance, according to a source.
"What they probably will do is not hurt Disney on new titles, but will buy less of their library titles," said one source.
Library titles, however, are where Wal-Mart makes money from DVDs. The retailer typically slashes the price of new releases below cost, making up for
it by selling other products to shoppers.
A Wal-Mart spokeswoman said, "We intend to meet our customer needs whether they choose to purchase movies online or in the store and will continue to
work hard with all our partners to do that."
If I fail math, there goes my chance at a good job and a happy life full of hard work.
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MyOwnWay
Posting Freak
Posts: 1786
Registered: 1-27-2005
Location: Pennsylvania
Member Is Offline
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There is nothing about Wal Mart that I like. I have never spent a dime there and never will.
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Voodoobillyman
The Artist Formerly Known As...
Posts: 4247
Registered: 8-12-2005
Location: Eastern Seaboard of the United States
Member Is Offline
Mood: my daughters beautiful curiousity
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I see greed on both sides. Fuck em both. I actually have to give kudos to Walmart, they are about to shake it up with the drug company monopolys by
offering generic pescription drugs at ridiculously low prices, it will force the hands of some of these drug thieves to come down or lose business
completely.
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BDx13
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yeah, i read about the thing with the generic perscriptions. interesting.
now that i live in the country, i understand wallmart MUCH better. we have one two miles from our house. we don't shop there often, but do
occasionally.
their prices are lower than just about every other retailer.
their foodstore stuff is ok, but again, so much sheaper. selection isn't great, though, nor is the fresh food.
that said, then next closest foodstore is another 10 miles away, the next closest GOOD foodstore, more like 20. other similar retailers, again, about
20 miles away.
If I fail math, there goes my chance at a good job and a happy life full of hard work.
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FNSRecords
Member
Posts: 100
Registered: 9-5-2006
Location: Boston to LA
Member Is Offline
Mood: music.
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All this over the Ant Bully?
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