*By Michael Teich*
Walmart's reported plans to launch a streaming video service may prove futile, said The Information reporter Jessica Toonkel. After all, the retailer, she told Cheddar on Wednesday, is late to the game.
"Netflix and Amazon have been doing this for a while," Toonkel said. "This is a really hard business to get into."
Toonkel broke news this week that Walmart may develop a subscription-based video service to compete with Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. The retailer is considering a price point below $8 per month and may also include an ad-supported free service.
What's the likelihood that Walmart will actually enter the streaming business? That depends on its willingness to spend billions of dollars, Toonkel explained. But after generating $17 billion in cash last year, the company potentially has enough ammo to match Netflix's aggressive spending budget, pegged at $8 billion for 2018.
But it's not just a matter of cash flow, Toonkel said. "They have a lot of money, clearly, but they also have investors that might not be as patient as investors in Netflix."
Walmart's last attempt to enter video content faltered ー in 2010 the retailer acquired Vudu, a video-on-demand service that currently offers a combined 100,000 movie titles and television series. But analytics firm comScore reported that users spent only 18,000 hours on the platform in May, just 2 percent of the total hours spent on Netflix and 6 percent of hours spent watching Amazon in the same period.
For the full segment, [click here.](https://cheddar.com/videos/walmart-could-launch-video-streaming-platform)
Alinda Mashiku, Conjunction Analysis and Risk Assessment Deputy Manager at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, joins Future of Space: Humankind's Leap Forward to explain how space debris is threatening operations in space at a time when more satellites are being deployed.
Marshall Smith, Senior Vice President of Space Systems at Nanoracks and Kirk Shireman, Vice President of the Lunar Exploration Campaign at Lockheed Martin join Future of Space: Humankind's Leap Forward to discuss upcoming plans for developing their Starlab commercial space station after being awarded a $160 million contract by NASA.
The billionaire space race took off in 2021, making major strides in space tourism. That growth is only expected to skyrocket in the next year, as the government and private institutions and companies look to shape the final frontier's exploration. Cheddar News dives into the biggest moments of the year in space, and what comes next for space travel and tourism.
E-commerce data platform Rokt is prepping for an IPO as it comes off of a $325 million Series E fundraise, and CEO Bruce Buchanan joined Cheddar to discuss the future of his company. He explained how Rokt uses data science to optimize the consumer experience with their clients and discussed the goal to go public in 2023. "We're at a size and scale now where it's important we can give liquidity to investors, we can use the public markets to attract more talent, and we can use the public markets also to go on and acquire more businesses," he said. "We think it's about time that we do list."
Chloe and Halle Bailey are no strangers to hard work. The sisters got their start performing covers on YouTube and have become a force in the music industry. Since then, the two have spread their wings beyond their duo group to individual projects. Now they're coming together to face off in the LG OLED Ultimate Gaming Showdown. Chloe and Halle join Cheddar News to discuss.
Software giants Adobe and Microsoft are further partnering to build synergy between their productivity tools for the digital-first workplace. Ashley Still, the senior vice president and general manager of digital media at Adobe, talked to Cheddar about the common vision between her company and Microsoft for simplifying work. "It's really important that companies make sure that the tools and applications that employees have at their disposal make their work delightful and easier," Still said in terms of how to judge the success of the partnership.
Carlo and Baker wrap up another week discussing the latest explosion in new Covid cases in the Northeast, President Biden's stalled agenda and more. Plus, Love, Hate, Ate featuring the question: why did movie dialogue get so hard to understand?
