Breaking News: Warner Moves To Blu-ray Exclusively
By Shane C. Buettner January 4, 2008 — Hot off the presses, in a move anticipated for some time, Reuters is reporting that Warner will support only Blu-ray Disc starting in June of 2008. This move leaves only Universal and Paramount supporting HD DVD and has the obvious potential to finally end the destructive format war between Blu-ray Disc and its rival HD DVD once and for all.

Speculation has been that uncertainty regarding the format war has held back consumer acceptance of both formats. The idea essentially is that neither format could succeed until there was one format. Warner's Barry Meyer seemed to agree and was quoted by Reuters as saying that, "the window of opportunity for high-definition DVD could be missed if the format war continues to linger."

Warner will continue to support both HD DVD and Blu-ray through May of 2008.

We're sure more details will continue to emerge, and we'll find out just how this move was orchestrated, who scratched whose back, and lots more. So stay tuned. And as Paramount's surprise move in 2007 showed us, this could all change in the next minute. But for now, it looks like 2008 is potentially the year HD on a disc moves forward on a clear path to consumer acceptance.