Blu-Ray is consistently showing that they are here to stay despite the push for digital distribution. Suffering DVD sales has now put a major company by the name of Paramount in a bind to the point where a merger is close to happening. One of the candidates toward making this merger a reality is Sony Pictures.
Financial Times Online spoke on this subject saying that Paramount is looking to consolidate its home-entertainment arm with another studio, in the wake of diminishing DVD sales. According to the site, Paramount initiated discussions with Sony Pictures and Fox.
Blu-Ray defeated HD-DVD, Blu-Ray has achieved market share growth at a faster rate than DVD when it was first announced, and now they are standing tall against digital distribution. Sony Playstation 3 helped to make Blu-Ray as powerful as it is today and the faster DVD falls the quicker Blu-Ray will rise. The possibility of a merger happening can only mean that companies may soon be gearing up to release Blu-Ray’s only with the chance of a DVD edition on the same disc instead of the consistent manufacturing cost of both disc, now the industry can only use one and still receive and enjoy the best of both worlds.
CAN WE SAY DVD/BLU-RAY HYBRIDS
A source told the site that the merger would combine DVD production, distribution, administration and could even see studios sharing technology. The new company would exist as a third party distributor, while marketing and sales would be kept in house.
Other studios, including Warner Bros. and Disney, have been taking measures to cut costs in the face of shrinking market share as well. If the trend continues, this may be just the first in a string of industry consolidations.
