14 DAY TRIAL // The format war between HD DVD and Blu-ray is far from over, and every week marks yet another major development in this competition. Even if only a few days ago HD DVD supporters announced that they've got the lead in this race, it would seem that the tables have turned, at least after Blockbuster's surprise announcement that from now on it will rent movies only in Blu-ray format.
The company, one of the most important DVD rental companies in the US, has been renting up until now movies in both formats, in 250 of its stores. However, according to an article by AP published in the Pittsburg Tribune-Review, Blockbuster has announced that it will only rent movies on Blu-ray discs in 1,700 stores when it expands its high-definition line-up during July.
Quite obviously, there's a very good reason behind this move, and, according to the company's representatives, it's based on what the consumers want. "We intend to meet the demands of our customers and based on the trends we're seeing, we're expanding our Blu-ray inventory to ensure our stores reflect the right level of products," said Matthew Smith, SVP Merchandising for Blockbuster. "While it is still too early to say which high-definition format will become the industry standard, we will continue to closely monitor customer rental patterns both at our stores and online, so we can adjust our inventory mix accordingly and ensure that Blockbuster is offering customers the most convenient access to the movies they want, in the format they want", he added.
The most important cause of this situation is the attitude of the most important Hollywood studios towards the next-generation DVD formats. Thus, most of the studios either release movies in both formats or just in Blu-ray format. The only HD DVD exclusive studio is Universal Studios, which is owned by General Electric Co., a traditional supporter of Toshiba's format.
The North American HD DVD Promotional Group, the people in charge of promoting the format in the US, weren't too happy about this decision and declared that Blockbuster has made a hasty decision, without having had the time to properly monitor the market trends. However, what's done is done, and it remains to be seen what the HD DVD supporters will be able to do about it, since this move could seriously push Blu-ray ahead and perhaps deal a decisive blow to its rival.
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