The first two Pirates movies hit Blu-ray on May 22 to coincide with the third movie's theatrical release
House of Mouse leader says HD DVD and Blu-ray format war is a matter of perception
Disney, Fox, Lionsgate and Sony
Pictures exclusively supports the Blu-ray Disc format for the delivery of
high-definition movies. In a recent quarter’s end conference call with the Walt
Disney Company, company president and CEO Bob Iger reiterated his company’s
stance behind the Blu-ray format.
When Iger was asked if he could
consider supporting HD DVD should that format prove to be more successful than
Blu-ray, he replied, “We made our bed with Blu-ray because we believed more in
that format for a variety of reasons; some technical in nature, some due to the
fact that it simply had broader support from a variety of industries, notably
the motion picture studios but also what I’ll call the consumer electronics and
the tech industry.”
“What we are seeing lately is that
sales of Blu-ray discs are outpacing HD discs by at least two to one,” Iger
continued. “As more quality Blu-ray product comes on the market, which is going
to happen, notably with Pirates on May 22, we actually believe that the
difference or the advantage of Blu-ray is only going to widen.”
Iger acknowledges that both formats
are still in their infancy, with HD DVD and Blu-ray both recently hitting the one million
unit mark, and lays part of the blame on the consumer uncertainty generated from
the apparent format war. “What we are also seeing is that the adoption of the
platform right now is being held back a bit by a perception among consumers,
really, that there is a format war; and that the hardware or the players are
too expensive,” Iger said, adding that he expects that the price of players to
drop by the Christmas season.
“We also believe that if Blu-ray
continues to outpace HD DVD the retailers are ultimately going to weigh in,
because they only have a limited amount of shelf space, and they are going to
have to choose a format in order to manage their own shelf space. Once that
happens, the advantage is going to go even more in Blu-ray’s direction,” states
the Disney CEO. “The best thing that could happen is for the format war to end,
which will be very pro-consumer, particularly as hardware comes down.”
Iger points out that the format war
is something that doesn’t apply to all consumer markets. For example, Blu-ray
Disc holds an overwhelming command in Japan. “If you look across the globe, the
only place there is really a format war is in the United States,” said Iger “In
other markets where next-gen DVD is starting to penetrate, Blu-ray is winning,
and substantially; so much so there isn’t even a perceived format war.”
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