Warner Bros. Sides With Blu-ray

Warner Bros. Entertainment got off the fence in the DVD format war and has sided with the Blu-Ray disc. The Burbank-based studio had been releasing DVDs in both the Blu-ray and HD DVD formats. Going only with Blu-ray is a response to consumer demands and a way to eliminate format confusion, company officials said. New titles will continue to be released in HD DVD until May 2008. Warner Bros. joins The Walt Disney Co., Sony Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox and MGM in choosing the Blu-ray format. Universal Pictures, Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks SKG, owned by Paramount, release its films on HD DVD. The two-format landscape has led to confusion and indifference toward the high definition, which has prevented the players from reaching mass adoption, said Kevin Tsujihara, president of the Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group. “Consumers have clearly chosen Blu-ray, and we believe that recognizing this preference is the right step in making this great home entertainment experience accessible to the widest possible audience,” Tsujihara said.