Best Buy (BBY) will be joining Vudu -- which was recently bought by Walmart (WMT) -- Netflix (NFLX), Roxio's CinemaNow, Amazon.com (AMZN) On Demand, and others in streaming video content directly over the Internet to your favorite television set. Details are sketchy so far, but the large question is this: do we need another one of these services? The market is already saturated. What's the benefit?

For one, Best Buy's Reward Zone Premier Solver members will receive one free video rental per month. That's quite a benefit for a customer that spends $2,500 per year at the largest consumer electronics chain in the U.S. -- not. You need to throw a bigger bone to these customers, Best Buy. That's like giving a dime back for every few hundred dollars spent. Not impressive.

Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY) will be treating some of its best customers to product giveaways and discounts come this Sunday night, when the retailer will open stores to a select group of customers who are subscribers to the retailer's "Rewards Zone" customer loyalty program.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Best Buy's customer loyalty program now includes 24 million members, up from seven million a year ago -- a spike that happened when the company abolished the annual $9.99 program fee for the "special club."

This could inspire more customers to shop at Best Buy during the holiday shopping season, although the company said that overall it expected a less-aggressive promotional environment this year.

The retailer is expecting between 500 and 1,000 customers to show up for special holiday shopping events like this special Rewards Zone night, although it was not clear if that number was nationwide or per store location (I'm guessing it was the latter).

I'm still wondering why competitor Circuit City, Inc. (NYSE: CC) does not have a program like this.

Best Buy Co., Inc.'s (NYSE:BBY) "Reward Zone" in-store program rewards consumers with "points" based on dollar-amount purchases at its stores. It's part of an intense loyalty program the nation's largest retailer launched a few years ago.

It sounded great on paper. But upon closer personal experience with the system, the "rewards" are not that great compared to the amount of money one has to spend to actually see the "rewards." I'd prefer something a little nicer than a $50 DVD player if I were to drop a bundle on that plasma HDTV, for example.

But I may be getting my wish. The rewards are looking more opulent going forward. The retailer will be hosting a movie-themed sweepstakes exclusively for "Reward Zone" members that will feature a grand-prize trip for four to the Bahamas as a tie-in with the upcoming DVD release of the hit movie from Walt Disney, "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest."

The DVD is released on December 5th and comes on the heels of a recent re-alignment of Best Buy's Reward Zone program. In September, Best Buy dropped the annual membership fee of $9.99 in lieu of a co-branded MasterCard offer that gives extra reward "points" to Reward Zone subscribers.