Walmart website adds movie streaming

Retail colossus Walmart on Tuesday added movie streaming to the offerings at its website. Viewing rights to films could be rented or bought at Walmart.com/vudu due to the integration of movie streaming service Vudu, which the US retailer bought in March of last year for a reported price of more than $100 million. Online shoppers will be able to choose between DVD versions of films or digital Vudu titles that can be watched on hundreds of devices including high-definition televisions and PlayStation 3 videogame consoles. "This integration allows us to introduce more Walmart.com customers to digital entertainment and give them access to thousands of new release and popular movie titles immediately," said Vudu general manager Edward Lichty. "We're enabling customers to easily choose how they want to enjoy their entertainment content -- whether that be through a physical DVD, digital streaming or both," he continued in a release. The move came as a monthly subscription price hike of 60 percent by US online movie rental titan Netflix prompted the US firm's customers to seek options to the service. Netflix stock slipped more than seven percent to $260.95 on Tuesday after an earnings report a day earlier predicted some US subscribers would drop the Internet streaming and DVD-by-mail service.