Sony (SNE) is not having its best year. As a matter for fact, it is not having its best decade.
Already troubled by slow sales of its PS3 game platform, SNE at least appeared to be making progress with it high def product, the Blue-Ray player. Its big partners in pushing the format are Panasonic and Samsung. The new PS3 comes with a Blue-Ray player, and SNE is hoping that this will help get the format out and sell films using Blue-Ray for their high def versions.
But, Microsoft (MSFT) and Toshiba don’t want to see that happen. They have their own format, HD DVD. And, Paramount and DreamWorks Animation have just picked up $150 million in financial incentives to use the HD DVD format exclusively.
The New York Times writes that: "Studios that have lined up behind Blu-ray, including Disney and 20th Century Fox, said the move would heighten consumer confusion at a point when Blu-ray appeared to be emerging as the best choice." Of course, they have to say that because they do not want HD DVD to get a larger foothold and spoil their plans.
HD DVD is not going away. The battle between the two formats could go on for several more years, especially not that there is a precedent for paying studios big cash for exclusive content deals.
It looks like the studio have nice new line of revenue.
Douglas A. McIntyre
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