Wal-Mart on Monday announced that it will acquire online movie service Vudu for an undisclosed sum. The deal is expected to close in the next several weeks.

Vudu is one of the numerous online movie services competing amongst themselves for very competitive market emerging in the coming years, particularly as home broadband speeds increase.

Wal-Mart posted that Vudu will aim to develop entertainment and information delivery solutions like Vudu Apps, its delivery platform for Internet-connected TVs and Blu-ray players.

Vudu currently possess a library of 16,000 movies and licensing deals with several major studio, apart from independent distributors.

"We are excited about the opportunity to take our company's vision to the next level", said Edward Lichty, Vudu Executive Vice President. "Vudu's services and Apps platform will give Wal-Mart a powerful new vehicle to offer customers the content they want in a way that expands the frontier of quality, value and convenience".

Vudu had announced to abandon its hardware business for partnerships with established manufacturers at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) earlier this year. The Vudu set-top box launched in 2007, and provided access to the company's online library of movies.