June 18th 2007

Blockbuster votes for Blu-ray

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It's been some time since we've written about the war between Blu-ray and HD-DVD but the new that the Blockbuster rental chain has decided to offer only the former format in its stores prompts us to put pen to paper again.

"The consumers are sending us a message. I can't ignore what I'm seeing," Matthew Smith, senior vice president of merchandising at Blockbusters, told the Associated Press news agency.

The choice of movies on Blu-ray is more expansive than that on HD-DVD with only Universal using exclusively the HD-DVD format.

Blockbuster customers will now no longer be able to rend Universal titles in high-definition.

This news is "pretty significant," said Forrester analyst James McQuivey. "By itself, this development might not be fatal to the HD-DVD format, but it is part of a series of blows that will eventually give Blu-ray the triumph."

Some reports have suggested that Blockbuster's move may only be temporary with the situation under constant review.

"We intend to meet the demands of our customers and based on the trends we're seeing, we're expanding our Blu-ray inventory to ensure our stores reflect the right level of products," said Matthew Smith, SVP Merchandising for Blockbuster. "While it is still too early to say which high-definition format will become the industry standard, we will continue to closely monitor customer rental patterns both at our stores and online, so we can adjust our inventory mix accordingly and ensure that Blockbuster is offering customers the most convenient access to the movies they want, in the format they want."