This is going to be a bit of weird one. The other day I was on TikTok watching a video that was like POV Going to Walmart in the 2000’s. When it brought up Walmart TV Network. I have the slightest memory of it. Apparently it was a tv network that would play on tv’s around Walmart while you shopped. It would show cooking shows, movie trailers, sports highlights, concerts, and ads for items in the store. It started in 1998 and was phased out sometime in the early 2010’s. I have seen online that allegedly some Walmarts still have the original tv’s for it but doesn’t show the network anymore. I have found very little about it online and no videos of it. I have only found screenshots of it take right off the tv and one article by The New York Times talking about. I would like to find videos of it because I think it would be cool to watch. The link to The New York Times article is below. Thanks for any help you can give me.
In this footage you can see a program that shows products in various departments of the store.
This video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDBQi9Eov0g is 15 minutes of electronics departement footage from 2006, This video contains lots of footage of the TVs throughout basically the entire video
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdCsegkrSMA In this video there is about 3 minutes of footage from about 2:30 to 5:25, outside of the cameraman zooming in on other products.
This USA today article about a Frito-Lay promotion with Tim McGraw has this line.
The network, operated by Premiere Retail Networks, is about to get even more sophisticated with a systemwide upgrade from satellite broadcast TV to an Internet-based system.
This eliminates the DVD theory.
The article also has a video which no-longer works where he talks about the concert that aired.
This USA today article about a Frito-Lay promotion with Tim McGraw has this line.
The network, operated by Premiere Retail Networks, is about to get even more sophisticated with a systemwide upgrade from satellite broadcast TV to an Internet-based system.
This eliminates the DVD theory.
The article also has a video which no-longer works where he talks about the concert that aired.
I'm not sure that much would be archived by either side, given that most of the content on the network were third party ads, though I feel that special events like the 13 minute Tim McGraw concert probably would still be archived.
Maybe some of the content was archived by the individual companies advertising on the network, but it is going to be tough to find.
I'm not sure that much would be archived by either side, given that most of the content on the network were third party ads, though I feel that special events like the 13 minute Tim McGraw concert probably would still be archived.
Maybe some of the content was archived by the individual companies advertising on the network, but it is going to be tough to find.
You’re probably right but you never know. I’m going to try my hardest to find the Tim McGraw concert because that will probably be the easiest to find. However, I will keep my eye out for other footage from the network.
Update: I found this video that was uploaded on to Youtube in 2013. It is a parody of Walmart TV Network. However it has the original logo/ intro screen in HD. Which could mean at some point HD videos of Walmart TV Network was uploaded online at some point.
If it was a DVD on loop, I wonder if there is anyway we can track down a copy of one of the DVDs.
I can help answer that for you as I work at Walmart when we get rid of something we usually throw that stuff away even the cardboard displays get crushed by a machine but it’s very possible a former employee might still have one as I took in of the paw patrol cardboard cutouts recently but it would be very hard to find copies as like I said they are mostly destroyed by now and Walmart has thousands of employees and former employees so it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack
This USA today article about a Frito-Lay promotion with Tim McGraw has this line.
The network, operated by Premiere Retail Networks, is about to get even more sophisticated with a systemwide upgrade from satellite broadcast TV to an Internet-based system.
This eliminates the DVD theory.
The article also has a video which no-longer works where he talks about the concert that aired.
This USA today article about a Frito-Lay promotion with Tim McGraw has this line.
The network, operated by Premiere Retail Networks, is about to get even more sophisticated with a systemwide upgrade from satellite broadcast TV to an Internet-based system.
This eliminates the DVD theory.
The article also has a video which no-longer works where he talks about the concert that aired.
That's an insane amount of work for what is basically a video that can be easily missed.
It honestly didn't take long to find the video, I found the article then tried the video link (also tried the internet archive) so after that I searched for the video on Youtube and found it.
I also found something called Walmart Soundcheck which ran from 2006 to about early 2015
According to Wikipedia "Walmart Soundcheck was a series of musical performances and interviews released exclusively by Walmart, starting in 2006. Each recording consisted of a four-to-six-song set performed live, plus an interview, and was released as a digital album as well as played on televisions inside Walmart retail stores." There are a lot of promos/interviews on the official Youtube channel: www.youtube.com/@soundcheck1469/videos and you can find some of the concerts on Youtube.
What is interesting is that the Tim Mcgraw concert, despite being from 2007 when Soundcheck was around, wasn't a Soundcheck concert (the article and video doesn't mention Soundcheck) and the length is only 13 minutes (the Soundcheck concerts I found were about 30 minutes).
This is likely because the concert was sponsored by Frito-Lay and most likely Frito-Lay paid for the ad space.
That's an insane amount of work for what is basically a video that can be easily missed.
It honestly didn't take long to find the video, I found the article then tried the video link (also tried the internet archive) so after that I searched for the video on Youtube and found it.
I meant the effort Walmart did to make it, not you. Kinda surprising for walmart to put effort in...well anything lol
It appears the Walmart Smart Network was the successor to this, although it seems a lot blander in comparison as it looks to have mainly been used for just advertising products.