News
Report: Toshiba Pulling Plug On HD DVD
Japanese broadcaster says player production will stop.
By Swanni
That's according to a report from Japanese broadcaster NHK, as reported by Reuters.
NHK reports that Toshiba is expected to lose hundreds of millions of dollars to end production of HD DVD players and leave the business.
Toshiba officials were not available for comment, Reuters writes.
Updates:
Reuters updated this article on Saturday, saying a Toshiba company source has confirmed that it's planning to exit the HD DVD business, perhaps as early as next week.
"We have entered the final stage of planning to make our exit from the next generation DVD business," said the source, according to Reuters.
The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that a Toshiba exit could be announced this week.
The high-def format war between Blu-ray and HD DVD began in the spring of 2006. While HD DVD fared well early, Blu-ray's overwhelming support among Hollywood studios gave the format a huge competitive advantage in disc sales.
In recent weeks, several retailers and other industry companies have decided to support Blu-ray exclusively in the format war.
NHK says Toshiba plans to continue selling HD DVD players in stores for the time being, but will not manufacture new players.
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