Vudu streaming to Australia later this year?

Walmart-owned video-streaming service Vudu may be heading to Australia later this year as part of its international expansion. According to Variety, Vudu will begin international expansion through Latin America in June, with expansions through Europe and Asia expected later this year.

The Vudu service is a competitor to Netflix in the US. Similar to Netflix, it is available through a variety of platforms, including desktop PCs, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and direct access through Smart TVs and Blu-ray players, as well as via iPad. Where Netflix is built on a subscription access model, Vudu's offering is built around direct video rentals.

According to Variety, Vudu may aim to press an advantage through the availability of prepaid cards instead of credit card-only transactions.

As ever, pricing and library considerations are always the big test in the Australian market. But any growth in competition across available services would be welcome. And a service backed by a retail powerhouse like Walmart could help push prices down here, where we typically pay quite a few dollars more per video than services in the US.