Universal: No Plans to Drop HD DVD
But the studio keeps door open for Blu-ray truce.
By Swanni
Industry observers have been closely watching Universal and Paramount since Warner decided earlier this month to endorse Blu-ray, giving it a 5-2 'major studio' advantage over HD DVD. (Universal and Paramount are now the only studios supporting HD DVD exclusively in the high-def DVD war.)
But in an interview with Beta News, Graffeo, an Universal executive vice president who also serves as the co-president of the HD DVD promotional group, says the studio is not changing its strategy at this time.
"This is business as usual for us and there are no plans to make any changes," he said in the interview. "We just made an announcement of our new HD DVD titles yesterday, with American Gangster. We also have a lot of other things planned. It's business as usual."
Despite the comment, Graffeo left the door open for a possible truce between supporters of the two high-def disc formats.
"Well, I'm never going to say it never can be done. I think everyone would like to see things work out, and I don't think anyone has any ill intention in this," he said. "I think anything is possible, and again it comes back to the consumer who has the final voice."
The Universal executive was also asked if other major studios might endorse HD DVD if the format sold more players. Toshiba recently announced a series of price cuts on HD DVD players.
"I can't speak for the other studios, because I don't know how they are thinking. But what was very encouraging is that when we were at CES (Consumer Electronics Show) we met with a lot of retailers. And the retailers openly said, that as much as they hate having two formats they are not making any changes, because they want to wait for what the consumer does. We've always said we want to follow the consumer," he said.
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Swanni (Phillip Swann) is
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