Friday, September 29, 2006
New York Post: RETAIL-IATION
Posted by Jason Eaton in "ARTICLE" @ 08:00 AM
"WAL-MART WARNS STUDIOS OVER DVD DOWNLOADS. 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."
It would seem that Wal-Mart has a bone to pick with Apple and their download service these days. My first thoughts after reading this immediately jumped to Anti-trust, Department of Justice, and Monopoly but is this reaction from Wal-Mart just big business? Wal-Mart isn’t the sole distributor of DVD sales so they aren’t a monopoly as popularly defined but what makes me upset is that Wal-Mart has a lot of leverage and they can change the options we have as consumers. Loss of choice is always bad in my book.
It would seem that Wal-Mart has a bone to pick with Apple and their download service these days. My first thoughts after reading this immediately jumped to Anti-trust, Department of Justice, and Monopoly but is this reaction from Wal-Mart just big business? Wal-Mart isn’t the sole distributor of DVD sales so they aren’t a monopoly as popularly defined but what makes me upset is that Wal-Mart has a lot of leverage and they can change the options we have as consumers. Loss of choice is always bad in my book.
