http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/21/technology/21disney.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
Here some interesting quotes from the article.
"But money talks: Paramount and DreamWorks Animation together will receive about $150 million in financial incentives for their commitment to HD DVD, according to two Viacom executives with knowledge of the deal but who asked not to be identified."
"The two studios may have left themselves wiggle room, however. Paramount’s agreement to use only HD DVD is limited to only 18 months. And Paramount noted that no films directed by Steven Spielberg were included in the deal “as his films are not exclusive to either format.” Mr. Spielberg is a co-founder of DreamWorks SKG, a unit of Paramount."
So the agreement is for 18 months. HD-DVD "gains" nothing from this agreement because it had Paramount pictures to begin with, so its net gain of studios is none. Blu-Ray does "lose" something though. But as the article said, "Fox announced plans to flood the market with 29 new Blu-ray releases" just after this announcement from Paramount. That is as many movies as Paramount has published on either HD-DVD or Blu-Ray since the INCEPTION of both formats. You can check the historical schedule at highdefdigest.com if you don't believe me: http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/releasedates_historical.html
We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers…Also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls. The only thing that really worried me was the ether. There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge. –Raoul Duke
It is hard to shed anything but crocodile tears over White House speechwriter Patrick Buchanan's tragic analysis of the Nixon debacle. "It's like Sisyphus," he said. "We rolled the rock all the way up the mountain...and it rolled right back down on us...." Neither Sisyphus nor the commander of the Light Brigade nor Pat Buchanan had the time or any real inclination to question what they were doing...a martyr, to the bitter end, to a "flawed" cause and a narrow, atavistic concept of conservative politics that has done more damage to itself and the country in less than six years than its liberal enemies could have done in two or three decades. -Hunter S. Thompson
