A story posted by Chris Tibbey (with contribution by Thomas K. Arnold) at trade publication
Home Media Magazine reports that Universal Studios Home Entertainment is making the switch to Blu-ray Disc format support, in light of
Toshiba's announcement that they are discontinuing the HD DVD format. Here is a quote from the story:
At least one of the two studios exclusive to HD DVD is already gearing up to join the other team.
"While Universal values the close partnership we have shared with Toshiba, it is time to turn our focus to releasing new and catalog titles on Blu-ray," said Craig Kornblau, president of Universal Studios Home Entertainment.
"The path for widespread adoption of the next-generation platform has finally become clear. Universal will continue its aggressive efforts to broaden awareness for hi-def's unparalleled offerings in interactivity and connectivity, at an increasingly affordable price. The emergence of a single, high-definition format is cause for consumers, as well as the entire entertainment industry, to celebrate."
No immediate impact to support of existing HD DVD releases, including TV titles like
Heroes and
Battlestar Galactica, was announced. Nor have any plans yet emerged about when titles will begin being released in Blu-ray Disc format; it's probably too early for that. But stay tuned and we will keep you informed. If Universal issues a formal press release on this subject soon, we will probably update this story and post it here, so don't touch that dial.
Paramount has not yet made public any plans to switch away from HD DVD. In fact, this morning they announced an April 1st release of Tim Burton's
Sweeney Todd film (starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter), as a 2-disc HD DVD special edition. On the other hand, as we've
previously reported, work has stopped on a hi-def release of
Star Trek - Season 2.
UPDATE: Home Media Magazine has
a separate story by Thomas K. Arnold, about Universal's change from HD DVD to Blu-ray Disc support.
Also note that the
HMM quote above was actually a statement issued by Universal Studios; our own Gord Lacey spoke with an exec there at Universal to confirm the info, and was immediately e-mailed the exact same official notice.
