Will the Paramount deal cause Universal to go neutral?

[Sylin]

Just brainstorming here. I apologize if someone has already posted this thought, but let's be honest: a Search for "Universal" and "Paramount" on this site right now brings up thousands of results. So here it is...

If I was Universal, I'd be PISSED right now at the HD-DVD camp. I've loved you. I've blindly followed you. And I've supported you (sometimes to the detriment of my image) to the public and the press. And this is how you repay my loyalty? By tossing $150,000,000 at my competitor? Where's my $150,000,000? I'd want that, and MORE, considering.

If I were a Universal exec, I'd be looking at ways to leverage myself to Blu-ray right now and tell HD-DVD they can kiss their exclusivity goodbye. Considering Universal's abysmal box office performance this year, they'll need to release their movies on DVD, HD-DVD, Blu-ray, UMD, VHS, iTunes, and daguerreotype flip books just to make a profit.

Now, that aside, this is all business and businesses exist for one reason: to make money. So it's a shrewd move on Paramount's part. They get $150,000,000 in their war chest. They make their Q4 numbers. They'll release "Transformers" and "Shrek the Third" on HD-DVD and DVD and make millions of dollars. And then in 18 months, when the deal expires (or if HD-DVD dies before then) Paramount will release those same 2 films on Blu-ray and make even MORE millions. The only thing they are "guilty" of is eroding public confidence in either format. But they have $150M reasons not to care about that right now, since the public has such a short-term memory and will forgive them next year anyhow.