“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,” Tim Arango reports for The NY Post.
“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,” Arango reports.
“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,” Arango reports. “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.”
“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,” Arango reports.
“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,” Arango reports. “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,” Arango reports.
Full article here.
Even a low-class anticompetitive cancer like Wal-Mart won’t be able to hold back the future. Wal-Mart logic: we can undercut every business in every town in the world, but you can’t do it to us. If you agree with that logic, by all means shop at Wal-Mart.
WAL-MART: The High Cost of Low Price: http://www.walmartmovie.com/
Related articles:
Wal-Mart: we’re not fighting iTunes Store movie downloads – September 23, 2006
Wal-Mart not happy with looming threat of Apple iTunes movie downloads – August 31, 2006
Wal-Mart loses ‘philosophical argument’ with Apple CEO Steve Jobs, gains top-selling iPod – November 29, 2005
Far be for me to defend WalMart, but at no time have I ever seen a shortage of Disney DVDs at any of the half-dozen that are equally accessible to me.
Except on Tuesdays, when the significantly discounted price of them (along with most other new releases) usually causes demand to outstrip store supply.
At any rate, count me among the dubious that WallyWorld “sent ‘cases and cases’ of DVDs back to Disney.”
As for WM’s Hollywood rep attepting to intimidate the studios, I have to laugh. The phase “Cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face” comes to mind.
Besides, Hollywood has it’s own “intimidator” at their beck and call that makes WalMart’s look like the little piker that he is.
The U.S. government.
Hey MacBones-
sorry to disappoint you, but it’s no coincidence that WalMart’s world headquarters is in Arkansas and so is William Jefferson Clinton, a/k/a; Slick Willy. It was ole Bill who gave our chinese buddies MFN (that’s Most Favored Nation Status for you at home)privledges to begin importing almost slave labor produced goods. Yep, in about 10 more years, when the only thing the US can produce on its odwn is either Coke or Pepsi, the chinese are going to cut us off cold turkey. then in a matter of weeks President Clinton (Hillary that is) will be forced to launch an ICBM towards Beijing to show them US policy on the god given right to lower prices. Yep, we are totally screwed, we just don’t know it yet. Of course if Bill Clinton had even an ounce of foresight, he would have known that taking down Osama bin Laden should have been high priority after the first time the WTC was bombed. or maybe after the embassy was bombed, or maybe after the barracks in lebanon, or , or, or…
oh nevermind, you probably reside in the conspiracy theorist camp and believe that 9/11 was an inside job so that “W’ can avenge his daddy’s misdeeds in the middle east.
I’d love to see Disney tell Wal-Mart to f*ck off and pull all their product from Wal-Mart shelves — not just movies but all the related merchandise. Make sure Target & K-Mart had plenty in stock. All the kids are going to want “Cars” sheets, lunchpails and such this season. Other retailers, including Amazon and local merchants, would love seeing empty shelves at Wal-Mart!
Wal-Mart can push around many people but Steve Jobs is not one I’d mess with — brilliant strategist, largest shareholder of Disney, 49th richest man, and a visionary into the future. While he cannot take careless risks as CEO of Apple he can certainly lead folks in another direction. He charm is greater than all the Wal-Mart executives in Bentonville.
I suppose if every Walmart worker was unionized and made $20 an hour every one of you liberals would shop there again.
No you wouldn’t. The prices would be too high. Walmart is all about low prices. Why is this wrong?
American labor has priced themselves out of their jobs. The Mexicans, Chinese, East Indians and others are now making the cheap goods for the underemployed Americans. Ironic, isn’t it?
Look at GM & Ford. They make an inferior product at a higher cost than Honda, Toyota and Nissan even though the Japanese companies use American labor. Cheaper, non unionized American labor.
Could it just be that organized labor is obsolete?
Sure looks like it.
Wal-Mart is the grossest place in the world.
Looking at all the wacked out comments here, it’s no wonder that so many mainstream pc users think mac users are mental.
If you don’t like Wallmart, don’t go there – go to another store. Millions of people like Wallmart for it’s prices and convenience, just like PC’s. They’re not ‘stupid’ because they go there or buy a pc – so many snobs…
You idiots, walmart is capitalism in process right in front of your faces.
As for the Chinese, they are doomed, they have a bloated population that is so dependent on Americans with higher end Educated jobs to be their buyers.
China does not have another customer like the US of A
Further more, China is having some economic problems of its own, becoming a victim itself to globalization. They have poor management and even poorer quality control and they have serious national debit issues in regards to business borrowing practices. And they have major major shortages in qualified workers.
Good luck to them, people think China has it all worked out? Like they are secretly holding their breath to destroy us? Who’s the conspiracy theorist now?
One of Walmart’s favorite tactics is to contract with a small supplier causing them to expand production, usually borrowing the capital to do so. When that contract expires Walmart tells the supplier that they expect a bottom of the barrel price in the next contract or they’ll go elsewhere. The small supplier now has no choice but to reduce profits just to stay in business. The alternative is to lose Walmart as a customer and go bankrupt trying to pay for their new production facilites, for wich they now have no customer. I haven’t bought anything at Walmart in years and won’t ever again.
Prediction: Walmart will begin closing US stores in 2007.
Shop anywhere else and it will happen.
Why would ANYONE believe a word from the Post? They’re barely a half step above a supermarket tabloid.
It’s a self devouring system Walmart has created.
Move into an area, kill all the businesses by undercutting. People loose jobs. People go to work for Walmart because they need work and it’s all that is left. Walmart pays crap. All you can afford to buy is stuff from….Walmart and so on.
Granted that is an oversimplification and not the same with every location but the gist of it is correct.
And it’s amazing, even here in NYC area, you go into one of these dumps and you suddenly feel like your in some redneck (no offense) backwater as soon as you pass the electric doors. I been in a number of them down south and they look and feel the same up here right down to the clientel and help.
It’s capatilism at it’s worst. Maybe the executives over there actually think they are doing good. And I am sure they are doing fine but I would love to see them live on the wages they pay there workers for a few months and nothing else. That would be hysterical.
I agree with ” 3rdKidney”
Isn’t this illegal?!?!?
Everyone is so hostile to wal-Mart. I’m sorry, but you guys are a little off here. Wal-Mart is well within it’s rights to decide what it will and won’t sell. It’s up to the companies to make a decision on which way to go.
At the end of the day, however, it will be the consumer that drives the decision. If Disney is making a ton, others will follow, especially if it saves them money. If Wal-Mart sells a DVD for 14.95, the DVD has to be packaged, and shipped to Wal-Mart, which costs alot of money. If the studios can save money through iTunes, and iTunes sells the movies, the companies will go with the money.
I guarantee this is just one more anti-Wal-Mart, anti-capitalist, commie bullshit story that contains no truth.
Nothing would please me more than if Steve Ballmer danced on my testicles in the ladies underwear department at Walmart.
Well, one more thing, if I was eating a nice greasy McDonalds hamburger and sucking down a Coke at the same time.
I LOVE THIS COMPANY > Microsoft…err… Walmart. same difference. *farts*
Sprawl*Mart is only hurting themselves by pulling this. Yeah, they might generate $5B in DVD sales or whatever, but that doesn’t just disappear if they cut back DVDs. People will get their DVDs elsewhere. Fsck Wal*mart and their arrogance.
This is “free-compeition”… pathetic !
There are markets in this world where even Wal Mart is not able to undercut. In Germany they tried to establish a business and sold it after 6-to 7 years and probaly the same number of bilion dollar losses because competition was too fierce for them. I don´t miss them.
MDN is right: they won´t hold up the future.
Wal marde
Well I think Wal-Mart and Asda* can go to hell.
Why – because by boycotting sales of dvd’s once Hollywood offers movies via iTunes, the only winner will be Apple with iTunes.
Instead of Wal-Mart making the $5-billion or so of sales, that’ll go to iTunes! Right folks you’re more likely to buy a movie off iTunes over a dvd sold in Wal-Mart?
Go on Wal-Mart transfer your $5Bn over to iTunes by carrying out your threat!
Not to forget that Wal-Mart by announcing this has just condoned movie piracy as legitimate!
Okay the movie download service is more likely to be success outside of the US, fine by me as the music side of iTunes here in the UK has always been behind that of its US counterpart.
*Asda is a supermarket chain in the UK that is owned by Wal-Mart. Thank goodness I don’t shop there – I shop at Tesco’s, this chain is far bigger here than Asda is and also has plans to offer Apple consumer products instore once major rebuilds of stores has been completed.
Just a shame that maybe Walmart now feels likethey are not as big and tough as they thought. All good things come to an end WALLY.. Even the biggest companies change or go out of business. Hollywood has been around a lot longer than WALLY. I bet hollywood will be here soon after the WALLY fad is over and gone..
I personally think that WALLY needs to start selling more USA stuff and start providing a USA inventions, like the iPod.. WoW.. wouldn’t that be a neat idea..
To the author of the article, nice job. Liked the open and honest of the words.
No, really, Wal-Mart is EVIL.
Just shows that Apple is changing the order of things.
Have Wal-Mart said the same about any other movie download service?
I doubt.
“Simply put, If Wal-Mart is such an evil corporation, running rampant over the law, then why aren’t they in trouble?”
Three words: REPUBLICANS
Poor petit Bébé.
I’m so sad for Wall Mart. They might lose some business.
They had my businees maybe 3 times in my life they will never have a single penny from me.
I was a strange feeling to walk at in a Wall Mart, felt like in the original Dawn of the dead movie. I was surrounded by zombies.
Wall Mart = Microsoft. Very nasty and unfair way of doing business.
Let’s go shop elsewhere!