![\"vudu-logo-001\"](\"http:\/\/mediamemo.allthingsd.com\/files\/2010\/01\/vudu-logo-001.jpg\"){kind=logo}
<\/a>Wal-Mart has tried twice to deliver movies and TV shows to its customers. Is it ready to try again?<\/p>\nMaybe. Sources tell me Web video startup Vudu<\/a> is in “meaningful” acquisition discussions, and industry executives believe Wal-Mart is the likely buyer.<\/p>\n Vudu executives declined to comment. I’ve lobbed a call into the Wal-Mart (WMT) press center but haven’t heard back.<\/p>\n It’s a deal that makes some sense on paper: Vudu is one of many services that gives consumers a chance to rent or buy movies over the Web, but it hasn’t gotten much traction. “It’s a beautiful product and a really great service, in need of distribution,” says a person familiar with the company.<\/p>\n And Wal-Mart has tried video delivery twice before but backed away each time. Acquiring a tech team at the right price could help it make a third effort.<\/p>\n After trying for two years<\/a> to compete with Netflix’ (NFLX) DVD-by-mail business, Wal-Mart gave up in 2005, and agreed to send its customers directly to Netflix. In 2007, with the backing of all the big studios and tech help from Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), it tried to launch a download service, a la Apple’s iTunes (AAPL). But it abandoned it in less than a year<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, sources say Vudu has been seeking a buyer — in the form of either a big box retailer or an electronics manufacturer –\u00a0 for some time without success. Internet executive Mark Jung ran the company for a year but left in November 2008<\/a>; founder Alain Rossmann became interim CEO when Jung left and has kept the title since then.<\/p>\n Santa Clara-based Vudu has raised at least $21 million from Benchmark Capital and Greylock Partners. I’m told that when the company was marketing itself last fall, it was looking for a sale price of $50 million or more. But it may not have much leverage to command a premium.<\/p>\n Vudu started out by marketing an Internet-connected box that consumers plugged into their TVs, but that offering seemed to underwhelm customers (as well as All Things D’s Katie Boehret<\/a>). It is now focused on building that technology directly into TVs, set-top boxes and Blu-ray players, and marketing itself as a Netflix-like service.<\/p>\n The company’s supposed strengths are a video compression technology that makes it feasible to stream movies in high definition, and a peer-to-peer architecture that cuts down the cost of delivering the the large files.<\/p>\n Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n