Report: Wal-Mart in Discussions to Acquire OTT Specialist, Vudu

According to a report Tuesday by All Things Digital's Peter Kafka, over-the-top-TV specialist, Vudu, is in "meaningful" acquisition discussions with a potential buyer, believed to be Wal-Mart. Kafka's report cited unnamed sources, and added that Vudu executives had "declined to comment" and that Wal-Mart's press center had not answered his inquiries as his report went to press.

According to Kafka, Vudu--which last week made somewhat of a splash at the Consumer Electronics Show (see the article published on itvt.com, January 7th) with its announcement of a new cloud-based Vudu Apps platform that has been selected by Mitsubishi, Sanyo, Sharp and Toshiba for the delivery of Internet services directly to their connected HDTV's (note: Toshiba will also integrate the platform into its line of connected Blu-ray disc players)--"has been seeking a buyer--in the form of either a big-box retailer or an electronics manufacturer–for some time without success." Kafka added that, when the company was marketing itself to potential buyers last fall, it was seeking a sale price of over $50 million. If Kafka's report is accurate, Wal-Mart's discussions with Vudu would mark the company's third major attempt to get into the video delivery business: it previously tried to launch a Netflix-like DVD's-by-mail business and an iTunes-like download service. NewTeeVee's Ryan Lawler has some analysis.