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Commentary
Paramount's HD DVD Decision Is Anti-Consumer
By Robert Smith
HD Observer
Commentary
Paramount's HD DVD Decision Is Anti-Consumer
By Robert Smith
HD Observer
Washington, D.C. (August 26, 2007) -- Continued from Part One of this article.
Looking back further in the history of packaged audio formats, I cannot find a single example of a viable format being wrenched from customers’ hands. For example, the Edison audio cylinders were still being shipped into the late 1920’s, even though Victor-style 78rpm disks had taken over the market.
The unwritten rule has been: if a studio says it is supporting a format, and customers invest in that format, then the studio will continue to support it as long as there is a market demand.
Dropping HD DVD with its 32 percent support would have been a violation of this bond of trust with the customer; dropping Blu-ray with its 68 percent support is a travesty and a precedent-setter for anti-consumer behavior.
It should be noted that other studios are exclusively for HD DVD or Blu-ray. While this practice is highly questionable and anti-consumer, Paramount is the only studio to actually drop support of a format. No other studio has broken its word to consumers. Universal doesn’t support Blu-ray and Disney doesn’t support HD DVD; they never said that they would so nobody ever counted on them.
The aftershocks of this event are being felt and may broaden.
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Warner Bros., the largest and best studio by any measure, has been supporting both HD DVD and Blu-ray and has sold the largest number of discs of any studio. It is apparent this week that Warner is now being pitched to drop Blu-ray by HD DVD promoters; very likely Blu-ray promoters are making their pitches as well.
At this point, Warner's HDTV disc customers could wake up any morning and find out that Warner is dropping Blu-ray, HD DVD, or doing just about anything else. Paramount has changed the rules. We can hope that Warner will strongly reaffirm its historical commitment to the customers of both formats, but that hasn’t happened yet and rumors are swirling.
Within the market for HDTV disc players, consumers have to be warned that they cannot depend on anything. I am advising all of my friends and associates to be wary of both formats now, and especially of the apparent commitments made by studios.
This decision of Paramount has seriously destabilized the already tenuous HDTV disc market and left customers in a greater state of uncertainty and mistrust that they were before.
Beyond the presently narrow confines of HDTV discs, this should be a big warning to consumers of all media. We have seen a trend to content exclusivity, but most of the instances have been minor.
So magnify the trend using Paramount as an example of what you can get away with. What happens when cable and satellite companies start bidding for content exclusivity of major content?
Will DIRECTV pay Time Warner for an exclusive right to distribute HBO, meaning that customers who bought cable with the expectation of getting HBO are disenfranchised? Will all baseball games only be available on Comcast cable? Will Showtime only be on Echostar?
Will consumers have to have a cable box and two satellite receivers as well as two HDTV disC players in order to access all major content? And will studios shuffle the deck every once in a while as they make new exclusive agreements, forcing consumers to scrap perfectly good equipment and libraries because someone else has bid more?
Disposable equipment, disposable discs, disposable formats, disposable customers. Disposable companies too.
Consumers, regardless of their interest in the HDTV format war, should take note: Paramount has just lowered the bar for acceptable behavior to customers.
Robert Smith, a vice president for engineering at a Palo Alto, CA company, is a HD Observer for TVPredictions.com. If you would like to be a HD Observer, send an e-mail to: swann@tvpredictions.com
The opinions of our HD Observers may not reflect the position of TVPredictions.com.
Comment on this article!
Looking back further in the history of packaged audio formats, I cannot find a single example of a viable format being wrenched from customers’ hands. For example, the Edison audio cylinders were still being shipped into the late 1920’s, even though Victor-style 78rpm disks had taken over the market.
The unwritten rule has been: if a studio says it is supporting a format, and customers invest in that format, then the studio will continue to support it as long as there is a market demand.
Dropping HD DVD with its 32 percent support would have been a violation of this bond of trust with the customer; dropping Blu-ray with its 68 percent support is a travesty and a precedent-setter for anti-consumer behavior.
It should be noted that other studios are exclusively for HD DVD or Blu-ray. While this practice is highly questionable and anti-consumer, Paramount is the only studio to actually drop support of a format. No other studio has broken its word to consumers. Universal doesn’t support Blu-ray and Disney doesn’t support HD DVD; they never said that they would so nobody ever counted on them.
The aftershocks of this event are being felt and may broaden.
__________________________________________
Disagree or agree with this article?
Comment here!
__________________________________________
Warner Bros., the largest and best studio by any measure, has been supporting both HD DVD and Blu-ray and has sold the largest number of discs of any studio. It is apparent this week that Warner is now being pitched to drop Blu-ray by HD DVD promoters; very likely Blu-ray promoters are making their pitches as well.
At this point, Warner's HDTV disc customers could wake up any morning and find out that Warner is dropping Blu-ray, HD DVD, or doing just about anything else. Paramount has changed the rules. We can hope that Warner will strongly reaffirm its historical commitment to the customers of both formats, but that hasn’t happened yet and rumors are swirling.
Within the market for HDTV disc players, consumers have to be warned that they cannot depend on anything. I am advising all of my friends and associates to be wary of both formats now, and especially of the apparent commitments made by studios.
This decision of Paramount has seriously destabilized the already tenuous HDTV disc market and left customers in a greater state of uncertainty and mistrust that they were before.
Beyond the presently narrow confines of HDTV discs, this should be a big warning to consumers of all media. We have seen a trend to content exclusivity, but most of the instances have been minor.
So magnify the trend using Paramount as an example of what you can get away with. What happens when cable and satellite companies start bidding for content exclusivity of major content?
Will DIRECTV pay Time Warner for an exclusive right to distribute HBO, meaning that customers who bought cable with the expectation of getting HBO are disenfranchised? Will all baseball games only be available on Comcast cable? Will Showtime only be on Echostar?
Will consumers have to have a cable box and two satellite receivers as well as two HDTV disC players in order to access all major content? And will studios shuffle the deck every once in a while as they make new exclusive agreements, forcing consumers to scrap perfectly good equipment and libraries because someone else has bid more?
Disposable equipment, disposable discs, disposable formats, disposable customers. Disposable companies too.
Consumers, regardless of their interest in the HDTV format war, should take note: Paramount has just lowered the bar for acceptable behavior to customers.
Robert Smith, a vice president for engineering at a Palo Alto, CA company, is a HD Observer for TVPredictions.com. If you would like to be a HD Observer, send an e-mail to: swann@tvpredictions.com
The opinions of our HD Observers may not reflect the position of TVPredictions.com.
Comment on this article!
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