Hollywood's problems haven't gone unnoticed on Wall Street, where stock ratings have been dropping due to projections of a continued 3% - 4% annual decline in home video revenue despite record box office returns this year. In his Dec. 10 report, titled 'The Tipping Point,' Bear Stearns analyst Spencer Wang wrote “With little traction on HD so far, pricing pressure, and less penetration opportunity left, we believe that the decline in the DVD market will accelerate in 2008 and beyond.”
Meanwhile the studios are making plans for a two pronged strategy to appeal to DVD buyers while continuing to push whichever hi-def format they're backing. DVDs are being with new features like copies in other digital formats for viewing on a computer or mobile media player.
There are claims from some Blu-ray and HD DVD backers that one format will emerge the clear winner after next January's Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the trade show where the entertainment and consumer electronics industries meet and talk strategy for the upcoming year. Of course the clear winner depends on who you talk to, which is why most analysts are still forecasting a stalemate for at least another year.
Source: Variety