Blu-Ray Wins with Rental Companies
HD-DVD Takes Another Hit as Blockbuster and Netflix Pledge Blu-Ray
HD-DVD is falling further into the abyss as more companies pledge allegiance to the Blu-Ray Camp. Blockbuster and Netflix are both going Blu-ray Exclusive.
Times are looking tough for those in the HD-DVD camp. The brainchild of Toshiba showed early promise as it scrapped together exclusivity with several companies but with the new year it appears Blu-ray is not only winning the battle but the war too.
Last month Jeff Duncan reported for Digital Trends that Blu-ray sales soared with Warner Brothers aboard. This month the format won another huge victory with both Blockbuster and Netflix opting out of HD-DVD in favor of Blu-ray.
In early January, major motion picture studio Warner Bros. pledged allegiance to the Blu-ray DVD, stating they would no longer offer their titles on both formats. The company opted to go with Blu-ray and seize production of HD-DVD products by the summer of 2008. It was a major blow to the HD-DVD camp and a huge victory for the makers of Blu-ray.
Blockbuster announced Blu-ray exclusive titles last summer and this past week Netflix went the same route. According to an article on Feb. 12 on CNNmoney, Netflix based its decision on the recent decision by Warner Bros. and other companies to produce only Blu-ray titles. As well as inclinations from their customers.
Netflix provides DVD titles for rent much like Brick and Mortar competitor Blockbuster however Netflix delivers the rentals straight to consumers’ doors for a low monthly fee. Consumers are given the opportunity to keep the films for as long as they like and upon return they will be sent more titles. The company has gained significant popularity since its parlay into the rental business in 1997.
Last year they announced their billionth DVD rental and have some 6.7 million subscribers and a library of over 90,000 titles.
Currently Blu-ray has the backing of 4 of the major 6 production companies in the U.S. Warner Bros' announcement came in January while Walt Disney (DIS), News Corp.'s (NWS) Fox and Sony Pictures (SNE) have been Blu-ray exclusive since the beginning.
According to CNNmoney Ted Sarandos, Chief Content Officer for Netflix believes that all studios will eventually be releasing their work on Blu-ray format and customers of Netflix who are renting hi-def movies are almost completely Blu-ray exclusive.
The rental service will continue to stock their current inventory of HD-DVD's until their natural life cycle is over however they will no longer be buying new titles and will consider liquidating current stock eventually said Sarandos to CNNmoney
After the Netflix announcement Best Buy published a press release stating they would continue to stock both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray products but would suggest Blu-ray hardware and software as the preferred format.
Netflix allegiance and preferential treatment from Best Buy in one week. This can definitely be an indication that the battle is coming to an end.
