Maybe I should sue HP for whiplash ... the company that yanked its video download service out of Wal-Mart, leading to the shut-down of that test, is still pushing full-steam ahead with its plans to transform digital entertainment. The latest: a deal to provide on-demand DVDs for Sony (NYSE: SNE) Pictures Home Entertainment, primarily older and more obscure titles. Very long tail. Sony is the first major studio to sign on.The LAT compares it to the way Dell produces computers on demand. Not really. It’s more like Amazon’s (NSDQ: AMZN) CreateSpace, which produces CDs, books, audio books and DVDs on demand and other efforts to make magazines, journals, books and available when keeping them on a store shelf or in a warehouse doesn’t make economic sense.

At HP, this falls under HP Digital Content Services, which is still touting its business of helping retailers fulfill requests despite its high-profile pull-out from Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT). This follows its explanation that it was discontinuing its merchant store services for video downloads because the market did not perform as expected. Maybe that was just six-letter stores starting with “W and ending with “t.”
Release.

• Wal-Mart Cancels Video Download Service; HP Says Wasn’t Worth Powering