January 10, 2008

Universal Refuses To Continue HD DVD Exclusivity, HD DVD To Begin Losing Shelf Space

Variety has reported the last two major studios supporting HD DVD, Universal and Paramount, may jump ship in the near future...the very near future. In fact, Universal has ended their commitment to release movie titles on HD DVD exclusively and Paramount has an escape clause in their contract with HD DVD that allows them to release titles on Blu-ray once Warner Bros. backs the blue camp exclusively, which they now do. Both studios however have upcoming promotions with HD DVD, so it doesn't look like they'll throw in the towel in the first half of 2008 anyways.

Creator of the HD DVD optical format Toshiba has reaffirmed its commitment to its creation in the past couple of days, citing strong sales in the fourth quarter of 2007, although we have to wonder what the profit margins were like on those sales as they were derived from massive price cuts on Toshiba HD DVD players leading up to Black Friday in November.

With Warner Bros. sister companies New Line and HBO now exclusively supporting Blu-ray, it looks as if HD DVD could be lacking retail shelf space this year which could cause huge problems for the format. Without sales, HD DVD will surely die.

Via Variety