HD DVD camp plans last-ditch Super Bowl ad

Toshiba will run an ad during the Super Bowl as part of a final effort to rally support for the HD DVD format, the company confirms in the latest issue of Home Media Magazine. Marketing VP Jodi Sally provides few details but explains that the 30-second commercial will primarily focus on the company's own A3-series HD DVD players rather than movies or the platform as a whole. The time slot on Fox TV's network chosen by the Japanese firm may have cost as much as $2.7 million, the magazine says. The Blu-ray Disc Association had reportedly considered an ad but was given only short notice for an open spot, preventing it from offering a suitable commercial.

The move is characterized as a step to "reinvigorate" HD DVD in the report but is also already being regarded by observers as a final chance for the disc format, which suffered a potentially fatal blow just before this month's CES expo by losing Warner to Blu-ray and leaving HD DVD with less than 30 percent of HD movie share. Toshiba cut player prices this month under claims that it was a response to HD DVD's marketshare but is widely believed to have been an immediate reaction to the Warner move.

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Other story tags: blu-ray, Toshiba, HD DVD, Warner, Super Bowl