Digital Home Thoughts: Studios Losing Revenue In HDTV War

""Screen Digest believes that whilst Blu-ray Disc (BD) is selling more units than rival HD DVD at the moment, in the longer term both formats will establish a viable installed base, allowing them to co-exist for the foreseeable future," the study said. Consequently, the company said, Hollywood studios that support one format over the other "could be missing out on significant revenues, potentially eschewing over $270 million of consumer spending in 2008 alone." Screen Digest said Sony, Fox and Disney, which back Blu-ray exclusively, could lose $175 million next year by not releasing films on HD DVD as well. With so much at stake, Screen Digest expects several single-format studios to reassess their positions during 2008," the company said."



Well, duh. Like I've been saying since the beginning (along with a thousand other voices), this format war is good for no one. Not the studios, not the hardware manufacturers, and certainly not the consumers. While I'm encouraged to see the shift towards HD DVD (BD+ is a draconian DRM scheme), I think that from a purely financial perspective, any studio that doesn't support both formats is throwing money away. As much as I want to see this format war end, it probably won't, at least not anytime soon. Not with so many players out there on both sides. Neither one is likely to end an orphan at this point.