Wal-Mart thrust itself deep into the online world Monday, announcing an agreement to acquire VUDU Inc., a digital technologies and services company that enables the delivery of entertainment content directly to broadband high-definition TVs and Blu-ray players.

VUDU’s service is built into a growing number of broadband-ready TVs and Blu-ray players and provides instant access to thousands of movies and TV shows directly through the television. This allows consumers to rent or purchase movies without needing a connected computer or cable/satellite service.

VUDU’s library of approximately 16,000 movies and licensing agreements with almost every major movie studio and dozens of independent and international distributors gives Wal-Mart a powerful tool for offering consumers content and enables them to do battle with powerhouses such as Apple, Amazon.com and Netflix.

“Combining VUDU’s unique digital technology and service with Wal-Mart’s retail expertise and scale will provide customers with unprecedented access to home entertainment options as they migrate to a digital environment,” said Eduardo Castro-Wright, vice chairman for Wal-Mart, in a release.

According to an article on BusinessWeek.com, Wal-Mart’s sales at U.S. stores open for more than a year declined 1.6 percent in the fourth quarter, which was below the company’s own forecast. The deal could help Wal-Mart compensate for weakness in demand for CDs and DVDs sold in stores. An analyst told BusinessWeek.com that digital is the one area of Wal-Mart’s business that is “under threat.”

The deal could also help Wal-Mart grow sales of flat-panel TVs and Blu-ray players because consumers might increase demand for the hardware needed to take advantage of VUDU.

VUDU has also partnered with Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, The New York Times and The Associated Press to provide other applications through its service.

See the full release.