BusinessWeek reports
that Warner Brothers is expected to follow Paramount and go from backing only the HD
DVD format to support both HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc. It would leave Universal as
the only major studio left supporting HD DVD exclusively and likely mean that
it's game over for HD DVD. Warner and Sony are however still in discussions so
it's not a done deal yet:
Neither Sony nor Warner
would discuss their talks. But those with knowledge of the negotiations
say they have focused on three key areas: the cost of producing the DVDs,
how Sony would treat Warner's patents, and guarantees that the Blu-ray
disk can be manufactured on time. Additionally, the sides are said to be
discussing whether Blu-ray licensees, which include computer makers Dell
and Hewlett-Packard and DVD makers Samsung and Pioneer, would be able to
link to computers based on Microsoft's Windows software.
…
Like everything in this
on-again-off-again DVD battle among media and technology heavyweights, an
agreement between Warner and Sony could still fall apart. But the sides
appear close to a deal, say knowledgeable
sources. |
You can read the rest of the
article at BusinessWeek here.
Source: Businessweek
