Paramount drops HDDVD. !!

[Cine Gear]

Paramount drops HDDVD. End of format war?

Paramount studios is poised to drop its support of the high-definition DVD (HD DVD) format after Warner Bros studio said it would back the competing Blu-ray format, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.The loss of support from Paramount, which is owned by Viacom Inc, would likely deal the final blow to the HD DVD format backed by Toshiba Corp and put an end to the format war, the newspaper said on its Web site. Time Warner Inc’s Warner Bros studio on Friday said it would exclusively release high-definition DVDs in Sony Corp’s Blu-ray format, marking a major setback to the HD DVD camp.

Blu-ray discs outsold HD DVD by nearly two-to-one in the United States last year, but HD DVD had secured major allies in August when Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc said they would go exclusively with HD DVD. But Paramount is understood to have a clause in its contract with the HD DVD camp that would allow it to change sides if Warner Bros backed Blu-ray, the Financial Times said, citing people familiar with the situation. However, Paramount spokeswoman denied this news as speculative with “Paramount’s current plan is to continue to support the HD DVD format”.

Source: Forbes, FT, Bloomberg

 

[Μιχάλης Κορ.]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aZzib5lwheBc

Jan. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures denied a newspaper report that the studio is poised to follow Time Warner Inc. in abandoning Toshiba Corp.'s HD DVD technology.

``Paramount's current plan is to continue to support the HD DVD format,'' Brenda Ciccone, a spokeswoman for Paramount, said in an e-mail today.

Toshiba, the leading promoter of the HD DVD format for high- definition video discs, fell in Tokyo trading after the Financial Times reported Paramount is poised to adopt Sony Corp.'s Blu-ray format instead.

Paramount can defect because a clause in its contract with the HD DVD camp allows the studio to switch to Blu-ray if Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. dropped its support of Toshiba's standard, the newspaper reported today, citing unidentified people familiar with the plan. Warner Bros. said on Jan. 4 it would drop its support of HD DVD.

Keisuke Ohmori, a spokesman for Tokyo-based Toshiba, said the report is speculative. Masayo Endo, a spokeswoman for Sony, declined to comment on the report.

Toshiba's shares fell 0.1 percent to close at 782 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange after dropping as much as 1.3 percent. Sony's stock rose 3.4 percent.

 

[Cine Gear]

Paramount dumping HD DVD because Warners did. Not True. I generally consider THE FINANCIAL TIMES above such rumor mongering, but it seems some folks are eagerly advancing the complete and total obliteration of the HD DVD format.

We're hearing rumors like Paramount dropping the format (NOT TRUE) as well as rumors that Sony paid Warners through the nose, because they fear that Disney and Fox may leave them (Also not true). There's rumors aplenty - I just wanted to settle these two HUGE rumors going around the net today.

 

[Cine Gear]

Well... we've had SOME confirmation this morning of the details of the Financial Times story from last night. While the studio isn't yet commenting, reliable industry sources are telling us that Paramount is indeed preparing to end their HD-DVD support and announce a return to the Blu-ray fold. Details are currently being finalized, and an announcement is expected as soon as they're complete. Paramount's first new Blu-rays will almost certainly include many of those titles that were cancelled last year, but that were already packaged and ready for shipping, so you could see them in stores very quickly once the studio announces.

Meanwhile, sources are telling us that Universal has also been talking with the BDA, and is looking to follow Paramount and Warner's lead as soon as possible.

On a related note, Times Online in the U.K. is now reporting that as many as 20 additional firms currently backing HD-DVD are also considering defection in the wake of Warner's Friday announcement, including Fujitsu, Lenovo, Kenwood and Pony Canyon (which is a major Japanese film and music studio).

What's more, word is starting to circulate at CES that major big box retailers will begin winding down in-store support for HD-DVD as soon as these studios go public with their decisions. We're told that the industry's major retail partners are already pressuring Paramount, DreamWorks and Universal to go Blu following Warner's decision.

Rumors are also beginning to circulate here that Apple's Steve Jobs may announce the addition of Blu-ray Disc drives to their Mac desktop lineup at next week's Macworld Expo in San Francisco.

We would caution you to keep in mind that all of this should be considered unofficial until the studios make their actual announcements. Things are moving very fast, and the situation is highly fluid. Still, it really looks like this is the end for HD-DVD, and the end of the format war overall. We'll keep you up to date with new developments as they break.

digitalbits

 

[DIMITRIS K.]

Επειδή πολλά έχουν ακουστεί, θα κρατήσω την επίσημη θέση της Paramount. Πάντως άντε να τελειώνει αυτή η ιστορία, γιατί έχει καταντήσει αηδία...