CES 2008: Toshiba Refuses to Surrender In the Format Battle

Toshiba went short of one important ally on the HD-DVD battlefield two days ago. Warner Bros, one of the movie studios that had previously released its titles on both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray disks, called it quits and completely switched to the latter. Although this is a significant loss for Toshiba, the HD-DVD supporter announced at the Consumer Electronics Show that the HD DVD format is a long way from being dead.

"We remain firm in the belief that HD DVD is the format best suited to the wants and needs of consumers," said Akio Ozaka, head of Toshiba America Consumer Products, at a news conference. "We are especially surprised that this decision was made in spite of the significant momentum that HD DVD has gained in the U.S. market and other regions," he said.

Warner's decision not to release its titles in HD-DVD format anymore will leave Toshiba with only two major partners, namely Paramount and Universal, to embrace the HD-DVD format. Apart from the fact that economical consequences will inevitably arise in this situation, Toshiba is also facing a complete public relations failure, since the HD DVD Promotion Group canceled its news conference following Warner Bros.' decision to drop the HD-DVD format. Canceling the event in the eve of the Consumer Electronics Show suggests that the HD DVD format bakers are ready to acknowledge their defeat.

"As you can imagine this is a tough day for me," said Jodi Sally, vice president of marketing for digital audio and video products at Toshiba America Consumer Products. "It's difficult for me to read all the pundits declare that HD DVD is dead. Clearly the events of the last few days have led you to that conclusion but we've been declared dead before."

Toshiba was taken by surprise by Warner's announcement, as there were various contracts and collaborations between the two parts in promoting the HD-DVD format. At the moment, there are over a million HD DVD players in the North American households.