Of course, there's already finger-pointing in some quarters, including comments that "large sums of money were obviously involved" to get Warner to switch. If anyone thinks payoffs were the sole reason for Warner's decision, they don't know as much about this business as they'd like to think. It's well worth nothing that BOTH camps these past few weeks were offering extraordinary up-front payments and other incentives to Warner to go exclusive to their format - sums that make the Paramount/DreamWorks deal to go HD-DVD exclusive look like unsalted peanuts. Warner clearly took the deal that offered them not just short-term gain, but also the best potential long-term benefit as well.

You can bet that Universal, Paramount and DreamWorks aren't going to want to be left holding the bag. Now that the industry momentum towards Blu-ray is clear, sales of Blu-ray hardware and software are surely going to increase, and none of these studios are going to want to be left out. Their shareholders simply won't allow it. Paramount and DreamWorks almost certainly have have out-clauses in their deals with the HD-DVD camp. Steven Spielberg has repeatedly made his desire to move DreamWorks back to Universal clear, and he's also a committed Blu-ray Disc backer - Universal going Blu is almost certainly going to be a sticking point in the negotiations, especially when you consider that Spielberg has TWICE now required the HD-DVD camp to retract statements claiming that his Universal films were coming soon to that format. And our sources are now telling us that Universal - knowing Warner was about to go Blu-exclusive - has already begin taking steps to prepare for their own future Blu-ray efforts. Our guess is that Universal in particular will go format neutral, to put the best P.R. spin on their situation. But we'd be VERY surprised if all three studios don't announce their own Blu-ray Disc support by mid-2008 at the latest, so as benefit from 4th quarter holiday sales. In fact, we're betting those announcements happen much sooner.

CES HD DVD Event canceled due to Warner announcement

I just received an email from the HD DVD Promotion Group stating that the CES 2008 HD DVD press event has been canceled. The recent Blu-ray exclusive announcement from Warner is cited as the reason for the event being canceled. You can find the full text of the notice below.

Notice of CES Press Conference Cancellation by North American HD DVD Promotion Group


“Based on the timing of the Warner Home Video announcement today, we have decided to postpone our CES 2008 press conference scheduled for Sunday, January 6th at 8:30 p.m. in the Wynn Hotel. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

We are currently discussing the potential impact of this announcement with the other HD DVD partner companies and evaluating next steps. We believe the consumer continues to benefit from HD DVD’s commitment to quality and affordability – a bar that is critical for the mainstream success of any format.

We’ll continue to keep you updated on new developments around HD DVD.”