WAL-MART TO PROMOTE ULTRAVIOLET

Beginning next month, Wal-Mart stores will be setting aside an area in many of their locations where employees will help customers set up free accounts with the UltraViolet system that will allow them to watch already-purchased DVDs or Blu-ray Discs via online streaming, the Wall Street Journal reported today (Tuesday). The newspaper said that the UltraViolet consortium, which includes all of the major studios except Disney, is also in talks with BestBuy to offer a similar service. Although the first UltraViolet titles began appearing in October 2011, only about 1 million people have signed up to use the service, the Journal reported, noting that the sign-up process tends to be cumbersome. (Each DVD that a customer wants to register with the UlraViolet service also requires a separate registration with the company that provides the content of the discs online.) It quoted Michael Nathanson of investment bank Nomura as saying, “It’s going to take a long time” for UltraViolet to catch on.