Move over Netflix! Here comes Walmart

     For those of you that don't know, Netflix has hiked there prices. It is now $15.98 a month to instantly stream movies and receive them at home. It was an almost $6 price hike for new and old users alike. The price hike obviously has customers up in arms and for good reason. Netflix doesn't offer an exhaustive (It's quite small actually) list of streaming movies and you'd be lucky to find less then popular videos available for delivery. Essentially, they are charging you an absurd amount of money for a less then adequate selection of movies.

Fear not my friends! A few other companies have come along to even things out and rival netflix also causing potential price reductions. For so long, Netflix has reigned as king of the movie / t.v. streaming service. This week, consumer goods store Walmart announced a new feature to stream movies powered by Vudu. The feature allows customers to rent the movie for a 24 hr period and also buy them for unlimited viewing. You can also upgrade the quality of the video for an extra fee. See screen capture below.

Also keeping competition strong is Amazon, which announced a licensing agreement with NBCUniversal to compliment its agreement with CBS to stream Movies and shows to Amazon Prime users. They've had streaming services since February of this year but the deal will only increase the amount of content available, making it that much more tempting. Prime memberships are about $7 a month and includes unlimited streaming capabilities of their library as well as other site related perks. Amazon also offers 48-hour rentals that does not require a prime membership.

As more and more companies start integrating streaming movies and building their libraries, you will see big companies such as Netflix being forced to drop prices to stay afloat. Which can only mean bright futures for stream-loving consumers. Simple economics states that more competition generally means more stable prices. Why it has taking so long for companies to jump on board is beyond me. With the closing of so many video stores, and the popularity of online media (especially with the push for Cloud based media) this would seem long over-due. So dry your eyes you sad Netflix users, help is on the way.

Peace!