Report: HD DVD Decision Likely This Week

Update: Nikkei business daily is reporting Monday evening that Toshiba will announce Tuesday that it will pull the plug on HD DVD.

News
Report: HD DVD Decision Likely This Week
Associated Press reports that Toshiba will hold a board meeting on the format.
By Swanni

Washington, D.C. (February 18, 2008) -- Toshiba is likely to hold a board meeting as early as tomorrow to discuss dropping its HD DVD business.

That's according to a report by the Associated Press.

Various news reports over the weekend said Toshiba, the main backer of HD DVD, was planning to end its high-def disc format battle against Blu-ray.

In recent weeks, Blu-ray player and disc sales have far outpaced HD DVD and Warner Bros. and several retailers have decided to endorse Blu-ray in the war.

Toshiba publicly said Monday that it has started a review of the HD DVD business, but would not comment further.

However, AP quotes an anonymous Toshiba official as saying that a board meeting could be held as soon as Tuesday to discuss pulling the plug.

"If true, this will be good news for the next-generation DVD industry in clearing up the confusion for consumers because of the format competition that had curbed buying," Koya Tabata, an electronics analyst at Credit Suisse in Tokyo, told the wire service.

The Wall Street Journal reports today that Toshiba is "expected" to pull out of the war this week. The newspaper says that Toshiba will continue to offer service for existing players.

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