Andre Yoskowitz
5 Jan 2008 17:15
In response to yesterday's news that Warner Bros. had decided to go Blu-ray exclusive, the HD DVD Promotional Group has announced they have canceled their upcoming CES press conference.
The group, along with Microsoft and Toshiba had planned to tout the Q4 heavy sales of its players and discs. It seems that Warner did not give the group any advanced notice of its decision thus ruining whatever the group had had planned to say.
There is still controversy behind the reasoning for Warner's decision. The studio actually helped in the development of HD DVD and has endorsed the format since its inception. It is also a key member of the DVD Forum, from where HD DVD was born. Many industry insiders have argued that Sony offered Warner a large incentive to go exclusive, somewhere in the ballpark of $400 million for one to two years of exclusivity.
"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," the HD DVD Promotional Group said in an e-mail.
"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," the e-mail added.
Toshiba on the other hand, released its own press statement in which it expressed extreme disapproval of the decision. The company even suggested that Warner had violated contractual agreements in leaving.
"Toshiba is quite surprised by Warner Bros.' decision to abandon HD DVD in favor of Blu-ray, despite the fact that there are various contracts in place between our companies concerning the support of HD DVD. As central members of the DVD Forum, we have long maintained a close partnership with Warner Bros. We worked closely together to help standardize the first-generation DVD format as well as to define and shape HD DVD as its next-generation successor," the release stated.
"We were particularly disappointed that this decision was made in spite of the significant momentum HD DVD has gained in the US market as well as other regions in 2007. HD DVD players and PCs have outsold Blu-ray in the US market in 2007."
We will continue to update you with any more announcements from either camp as CES gets underway.
Source:
Betanews