Wal-Mart joins the video download party

Wal-Mart made a huge splash in the online video sector this week with the launch of a video download service a la iTunes that includes reseller deals with all six of the major Hollywood studios. On the face of it, this is a huge blow to iTunes, which is still debating with most of the major studios over licensing fees and price points for its service. iTunes currently has the only video download service that works across multiple platforms (iPhone, cometh) and its pricing is either cheaper or comparable to the Wal-Mart store's pricing. In any case, it's a big step forward for digital downloads--once the big studios get their feet wet they may start to come around to other outlets online as well.

For more on the Wal-Mart service:
- check out this interview with Wal-Mart's digital download head