Posted by T.B. on 01/05/08 02:05

caliman.john@gmail.com wrote:

> Just days before CES 2008, Warner Home Video has announced that they
> are going to stop supporting HD-DVD and support the Blu-Ray format
> exclusively. There are rumors that this decision was made after Sony
> paid Warner 1.8 billion dollars to sign an exclusive contract, one of
> the largest payoffs yet (the second largest being 150 million to
> Paramount and Dreamworks to go HD-DVD exclusively.)
>
> Warner's official response, however, was:
> "In response to consumer demand, Warner Bros. Entertainment will
> release its high-definition DVD titles exclusively in the Blu-ray disc
> format beginning later this year" it was announced today by Barry
> Meyer, Chairman & CEO, Warner Bros. and Kevin Tsujihara, President,
> Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group.
>
> After August 2007, Sir Howard Stringer, CEO of Sony said that the Blu-
> Ray format was in a stalemate. "It's a difficult fight. We were trying
> to win on the merits, which we were doing for a while, until Paramount
> changed sides," Howard Stringer told the AP.
>
> Blu-Ray was winning the HD format war in North America and Asia, but
> not Europe, until the Dreamworks/Paramount buyout.
>
> Many consider this new Warner Home Video buyout to be the end of the
> format war completely.

Glad I picked the right HD format. I wouldn't call this the death-knell for
the so-called format war just yet though.

And seriously, no one in their right mind should expect Universal to roll
over and start churning out BR titles by Spring. Also, I wonder where this
leaves Paramount and Dreamworks. Are those studios stuck releasing their
product on HD-DVDs for the next couple of years or however long their
"agreement" with Toshiba/Microsoft is supposed to last?

Considering the writer's strike dragging on and no to the point it'll likely
kill the Fall tv season as well as delay a lot of production on various
movies, I wonder if studios will be more apt to rush release a lot of
product to compensate for lost revenue?

T.B.

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