Last studios to drop HD DVD in weeks?

Both Paramount and Universal are biding their time and follow Warner's switch to Blu-ray within a matter of weeks, according to established movie writer Bill Hunt of Digital Bits. Sources "second to none" allege that these two remaining major supports of HD DVD are ready to switch to releasing Blu-ray movies but are waiting on the right conditions to announce the move, regardless of obligations. While Universal is waiting on its current contract to expire by February, Paramount is simply waiting to have one or more titles ready before it exercises its now corroborated opt-out clause from its HD DVD exclusivity deal, the insiders say.

If accurate, the transition would all but immediately end the conflict between Blu-ray and HD DVD, placing all major studios in support of the former HD disc standard. The Warner shift is already understood to have given roughly 70 percent of all HD movie releases to Blu-ray and resulted in the HD DVD Promotional Group postponing its keynote for this week's Consumer Electronics Show, which has now been canceled outright.

Filed under: industry
Other story tags: blu-ray, Universal, Warner, Paramount