High-Def Battle to Get 3rd Player

Washington, D.C. (June 24, 2007) -- Consumers already baffled by the high-def DVD war may find another reason to be confused.

Coming this September, the UK-based company New Medium Enterprises will launch a new high-def DVD format called Versatile Multilayer Disc, or VMD.

The format will compete with existing high-def discs from the Sony-backed Blu-ray format and the Toshiba-supported HD DVD.

Variety magazine reports that New Medium plans to introduce the high-def format in the U.S. and Europe.

However, the publication notes that the format has not won the support of a single major U.S. film studio and only one U.S. retailer, a web site called PCrush.com, has agreed to sell the HD VMD player.

Four of the eight major film studios are backing Blu-ray exclusively with Universal supporting HD DVD exclusively. The others are backing both formats.

But New Medium officials say that the HD VMD player will likely be cheaper than the Blu-ray and HD DVD boxes because it will cost less to manufacture.

They add that film companies will find it easier and less expensive to produce discs in the HD VMD format, which could appeal to independent studios.

"In the first six months we are giving free authoring tools to studio partners to make our content popular in the format," a New Medium executive tells Variety. "Many production houses can't make the investment with (Blu-ray or HD DVD). We want to make the industry feel comfortable with high-def."

Commentary

Let me be crystal-clear:

The HD VMD format has no chance in the U.S.

Zero. Nadda. Zip. No chance.

HD DVD, which has the backing of Microsoft, Universal and Toshiba, is struggling in its fight against Blu-ray. So how on earth does New Medium think it can possibly compete?

Well, the answer is that it can't.

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Phillip Swann is president and publisher of TVPredictions.com. He has been quoted in dozens of publications and broadcast outlets, including CNN, Fox News, Inside Edition, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Financial Times, The Associated Press and The Hollywood Reporter. He can be reached at swann@tvpredictions.com or at 703-505-3064.

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