| ssj12 said: http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/Warner/Warner:_No_Payoff_for_Move_to_Blu-ray/1327 "Warner: No Payoff for Move to Blu-ray Fri Jan 04, 2008 at 07:56 PM ET Tags: Warner (all tags) Warner Home Entertainment President Kevin Tsujihara says the studio took no pay-offs to exclusively back Blu-ray. In a post-announcement conference call, Tsujihara flatly denied rumors that studio had accepted anywhere from 250M to $500M in exchange for dropping its HD DVD format support. According to the exec, Warner's sole motivation in dropping its HD DVD format support was to ensure growth of the "category" and the long-term health of the industry. "The packaged media business is a $42 billion dollar business worldwide at the retail level, and we [Warner] have the largest market share of anybody," said Tsujihara. "From our perspective, the most important piece of this whole puzzle is, "How do we get growth back into this category?" That far outweighed anything else." This [decision] was one hundred percent around what makes the most sense for the consumer, the retailer and the industry. This was not a bidding war. This was all about what was best, strategically, for us." |
I would agree that the source of this rumour is unreliable. But the non-quote is so pitiful that you could drive the proverbial Mack truck through the holes.
Warner Home Entertainment President Kevin Tsujihara says the studio took no pay-offs to exclusively back Blu-ray.
In a post-announcement conference call, Tsujihara flatly denied rumors that studio had accepted anywhere from 250M to $500M in exchange for dropping its HD DVD format support.
First of all, neither one is a quote. The quoted part say very little about the no pay-off except the part "This is not a bidding war".
Secondly, if a pay-off is defined as cash changing hands, than probably there was no pay-off. But if it was reduced royalities up to $500M, that could be best strategically for them. So, the real question that needed to be answered is: Was there any direct incentives to go with BR and drop HD-DVD? When I hear that directly denied in a quote by Warner, then I'll believe that Warner changed their mind just to get on the winning side.
But, I'll think that it was sort of stupid of them not to get anything for throwing their support to help ensure that it was the winning side!
Torturing the numbers. Hear them scream.
