Letter/email to Viacom.

[Maximus]

As a shareholder* in Viacom I was interested to hear about the recent news that Viacom made the odd decision of releasing the vast majority of their titles exclusively on the HD DVD format for the next 18 months.

From what I have heard in the press Blu-ray seems to be the dominant format and to be backing the wrong horse exclusively seems like an odd business decision.

Also hearing news this morning that star directors such as Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg were none-too impressed by the decision makes everything worse, relations with DreamWorks SKG were cool at best and I hope that this strange decision doesn't make things worse as Paramount Pictures is *nothing* without Mr Spielberg's direct involvement, he attracts all of the great talent. I really hope that Mr Spielberg doesn't go through with his threat to put him studio up for sale again, it would lead to a big talent drain at Paramount Pictures and have adverse effects on the share price, it could even lead to the sale of my personal holdings in VIA.

Getting to the point, I would like to know what triggered this irrational decision as a concerned investor.

Yours Sincerely,

xxxx

*Stock owned through a private fund.

I sent this to Viacom Investor relations.

I really am a stockholder and not impressed with this decision.

[jw]

thats what it is going to take to get things changed, or at least try.

[Smackos]

Good for you mate... you'll have to let us know what spin they try to put on it IF they reply back to you... I'd love to know how they try and sell it to you..

[ottscay]

Even ignoring the possible damage that is occuring with talent (i.e. directors) from the Paramount fallout, considering how concerned the studios are over move pirating, I don't think alienating 2/3rds of the paying customer base on next-gen media is very clever. There are lots of ways to lose money, and Paramount seems intent on exploring all of them.

[ground chuck]

kudos to you, but viacom is a large corporation of which paramount makes up a sliver of their efforts.

[Maximus]

Originally Posted by ground chuck

kudos to you, but viacom is a large corporation of which paramount makes up a sliver of their efforts.

I feel it is their duty to me as an investor to make as much money (and give it to me in a large dividend) as possible, turning HD DVD exclusive means that they will be removing themselves from 66% of the HDM market.

[jw]

I was checking the stock price an its down .10 as of right now, but I found this interesting article on msn.com
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/tic...455&Symbol=VIA
I think Wall Street has noticed!

[Count Zero]

It makes me happy to see how Paramounts ridiculous business decision is getting lots of attention.

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by jwbbud

I was checking the stock price an its down .10 as of right now, but I found this interesting article on msn.com
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/tic...455&Symbol=VIA
I think Wall Street has noticed!

Interesting. Clearly a Blu-ray fan, but a definitely good piece on the illogic.

Moves that end the format war are positive.
Moves that encourage it are plain stupidity.

Sony/Fox/MGM are unlikely to ever release on HD DVD, so the reality remains that HD DVD can't win. Blu-ray might not either, but HD DVD definitely will not.