The HD DVD Promotion Group has made two announcements following Warner Bros.’ decision to go Blu-ray Disc exclusive for High Definition titles (and New Line is going Blu-ray only as well with WB):
The companies of the HD DVD Promotion Group today issued a statement in response to the decision by Warner Home Video to exclusively back the Blu-ray format:
“While Warner’s decision is a setback for HD DVD, the consumer has benefited from HD DVD’s commitment to quality and affordability — a bar that is critical for the mainstream success of any format. We believe widespread adoption of a next generation format will ultimately be determined by the consumer.”
If you ask us, the HD DVD camp is reaching here. We don’t think they’ll be able to recover from losing Warner Bros. Entertainment as well. With Blu-ray Disc now gaining a 70% share of the market compared to HD DVD’s 30%, we wouldn’t be surprised if announcements from Paramount/DreamWorks and Universal (the only two studios on HD DVD’s side) will come sometime down the road saying that they will either go Blu-ray exclusive or release in both formats.
The HD DVD Promotion Group was planning a big press conference on sunday at the Consumer Electronics Association (CES) in Las Vegas, but that has been cancelled now:
Based on the timing of the Warner Home Video announcement today, we have decided to postpone our CES 2008 press conference scheduled for Sunday, January 6th at 8:30 p.m. in the Wynn Hotel. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
We are currently discussing the potential impact of this announcement with the other HD DVD partner companies and evaluating next steps. We believe the consumer continues to benefit from HD DVD’s commitment to quality and affordability a bar that is critical for the mainstream success of any format.
We’ll continue to keep you updated on new developments around HD DVD.
