Soon after the announcement, GCI Group, a Los Angeles-based public relations firm, began calling reporters (including this one) to tell them that a Hollywood news blog was reporting that HD DVD supporters gave Paramount $100 million in "promotional considerations" to dump Blu-ray.
GCI Group represents Sony, the leading supporter of the Blu-ray format, and jointly issues press releases on its behalf on Blu-ray issues. (The PR firm has also issued press releases on behalf of other Blu-ray affiliated companies.)
The blog, "Deadline Hollywood Daily," is written by Nikki Finke of the LA Weekly. Finke also wrote that DreamWorks Animation, which today said it would also support HD DVD exclusively, got $50 million in "promotional considerations."
Finke did not name her sources, say how many they were or even characterize them as coming from a specific company or industry.
Her blog item, which was posted shortly after today's Paramount announcement, also did not elaborate on the "promotional considerations."
It did quote the "sources" as saying the alleged payoff was "really out of desperation" by HD DVD supporters and "a cash grab" by the studios (Paramount and DreamWorks.) Toshiba and Microsoft are the leading supporters of the HD DVD format.
In response to the blog item, the web site Gizmodo asked Paramount for a response and here it is:
"The reason we made this decision is simple. After a year of fully experiencing and exploring both formats, we decided to exclusively support HD DVD because of the quality, value and potential the format offers. Beyond that, whenever we conduct co-marketing, production deals or other agreements, we never discuss business terms."
Update: The New York Times today also reported that Paramount and DreamWorks received millions in financial incentives for backing HD DVD. The newspaper quoted anonymous sources at Viacom, the parent company of Paramount.
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