NBCU eyes Vudu; Fox circles Tubi
February 24, 2020
NBCUniversal is in advanced talks to acquire Vudu from US retail giant Walmart, according to a WSJ report.
Walmart acquired Vudu in 2010 for $100 million, and rumours emerged late last year that it was seeking to offload the service. Vudu is a TVoD service that lets users buy or rent movies or TV shows – and it also added a free, ad-supported option in 2016.
Vudu would serve as a complement to Peacock, the report says. NBCUniversal’s VoD service will include an ad-supported version priced at $4.99 per month, a completely ad-free version at $9.99, and a more limited, free version – also supported by ads – when it goes live in April.
Meanwhile, Fox has expressed interest in acquiring Tubi, an AVoD service that offers a library of some 20,000 movies and TV shows. A deal could be valued at $500 million according to reports.
Tubi recently reported that its year-on-year total viewing time increased by 160 per cent (to over 163 million hours). The service is currently available in the US, Canada and Australia, and launches in the UK and Mexico later this year.