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Original Message

"Personally, I think that this was a poor business decision....."

Posted by oscar on January 4, 2008 at 19:20:55:
That noted Blu-ray shill, Bill Hunt offers an alternative viewpoint.

"...
Let's call a spade a spade: What Warner has done today is to effectively pull the plug on this format war. Think about it. Their decision to go Blu-ray exclusive is the only change they could have made that makes any kind of business sense. It's become clear now to nearly everyone in this industry that the continuation of this format war - while it's certainly helped to drive hardware prices lower - has now become the sole major roadblock to high-def discs moving past the early adopter market and into more widespread consumer acceptance.

Warner could have done one of three things: Go Blu-ray exclusive, go HD-DVD exclusive, or stay neutral. It's apparent from their statement this morning that Warner knows as well as we do that this format war is confusing consumers and hurting the chances for high-def packaged media in the long run. While early adopters online have been happily back-biting each other these past two years, most folks elsewhere on planet Earth have just issued a collective yawn. Meanwhile, those non-early adopter consumers who are actually interested in high-def discs have sat on the sidelines waiting for the axe to fall on one of these formats. So for Warner, staying neutral just wasn't an option anymore. The question then becomes, if you're going to make a change in strategy, you want to make one that's going to impart genuine forward momentum on the situation. Warner going HD-DVD exclusive would have effectively created a 50/50 split in Hollywood studio support for these formats, resulting in an even bigger stalemate than already exists, and probably closing the door completely on either of these formats ever gaining widespread acceptance. On the other hand, Warner going Blu-ray only makes that studio split 70/30. It effectively gives Blu-ray exclusive access to 70% of Hollywood studio content. And that's not only a game changer, it's a game ender.
..."

Bills published some opinions which have been wrong and impacted his credibility, but this seems spot-on.