Walmart has begun offering home installation services for TVs, home theaters and PCs through a partnership with NEW.

The services, which start at $99 for a basic TV installation and $129 for a basic PC setup, will be sold via prepaid cards displayed on descriptive merchandisers and within the home-theater and computer aisles.

The offering follows a major assortment and display upgrade within Walmart's CE departments, and represents a major step toward filling the service vacuum that separates full-line discount stores from specialty CE dealers.

The install program has already been introduced in some stores, and is expected to be rolled out nationwide by month's end, a Wal-Mart spokesperson told TWICE.
"It's an affordable and simple solution, and a real benefit to our customers," the spokesperson said.

Unlike a similar NEW program that will debut at Wal-Mart's Sam's Club division on Nov. 1, the Walmart offering does not include home delivery.

The in-home visits will be made by NEW's nationwide network of about 11,000 certified and insured installers. Basic TV services include a pre-installation consultation, TV placement, hook-ups to two A/V components, remote control configuration, packaging clean-up, and a follow-up visit and tutorial.

Walmart's premium TV service, for $339, also provides wall mounting, concealed in-wall wiring and two additional A/V component hook-ups.

PC services range from $129 to $199 and include software installation, peripheral hook-ups, data transfer, hard-drive defragmentation and tutorials.