Why doesn't Sony bribe?

[saljr]

Why doesn't Sony bribes Warner Bros. The way Toshiba did with Paramount. I have a good feel that some or all of you will say its bad business practice.

On E-Bay 85-90% of HD-DVD player are 1080i. Its all old stuff I feel sorry for the dummy's buy.

[quetzalcoatl]

That is what I would say it is bad for there business. Toshiba could get away with it since they are not as big. But Sony is the evil empire to alot of people and some of the things they have done contribute to the notion. So where it is really not bad for business it is bad for reputation and might cause more people to defect to the other side. It is amazing how many people I have talked to and they donot want Blu because of Sony.

I look at it differently where I think some of the things Sony has done in the past were stupid and maybe not good for business. I have 2 major hobbies my computer and my HT. Well Microsoft controls my computer and has done as many things as Sony, maybe even more, on the computer side that is hated. So I donot wish to give control of all my play time to one company.

[MOONPHASE]

plus sony sells like the best stuff thats why they are always more in price and plus if that happened sony would be no better then toshiba and besides they did that out of desperation as for sony they dont even need to go that far for this format war since blu-ray is winning anyways and has been winning for a very long time now

[w_tanoto]

warner might be too big. besides, I prefer if the studio comes by itself, like the rest of BD supporter, not by bribing.

[monkyman]

Sony is a Competetor with Warner for movie sales. They could join to fight the war, but to pay a competeing studio won't happen. Toshiba is not competing against Paramount and needs software for their hardware to serve a purpose.

[bhampton]

If you read other forums you will see the HD DUD-ers think they bribed everyone who supports them already. I've seen notions they must have bribed Disney and also they say the "deal" with J+R has been called off meaning they think J+R had some kind of contract to only carry Blu Ray.

A HD DUD-er thinks no one will enjoy anything Sony without being bribed.

-Brian

[Go Blu]

I think that Blu-ray is in a good position and if the BDA continues on it's path to successfully promote BR then Warner will come by themselves.

It's no accident that the large majority are already on-board each for their own reasons of course.

As you can see retail support is going up, the amount of BDP's available far outweighs that of Toshiba and lastly you add the 20, 60, 80 and now 40Gb PS3.Once sales reach 3:1 and 4:1 ratios then Warner will have no choice from a business standpoint to come over.

Warner is too big and their board members will not just sit back while they waste production capacity on a dieing format when there is so much revenue to be made with BR-Disc. We just need to get the numbers up.

[JYD59]

Sony doesn't bribe because....they don't have to.

They know its just a matter of time.

[Musashi]

Bribes are half the reason Microsoft has lost about $7 Bn on the XBox division since 2001.

They may get you some content that makes you look better, but ultimately it's not sound business strategy.

The HPG is losing on the Paramount deal; hard to say what it's going to take to get them to just cut their losses and stop getting in the way of widespread hi-def adoption.

[EricJ]

Actually, as HD-DVD still desperately tries to fight back with, Sony does, and way back in the early days, did--

Just that bribing a company to carry your product, is technically, slightly LESS illegal than bribing a company not to sell somebody else's...

[SS316SRV]

It has been said on this thread already but, Warner is not a tiny company. Sony could walk up with $150m and offer it to WB. The Frog would just laugh (think of Austin Powers when he demands $1,000,000 in ransom). Plus, Sony or the BDA doesn't need to use cash to get Warner to blu, we just need to support Warner while they are on blu.

[bluperch]

Okay, just to be devil's advocate. Who says Sony hasn't bribed? I'm sure there are a lot of machinations behind the scenes that no one knows about. And it might not be a blatant money bribe, but a "partnership" or "business deal" or something that wields corporate political power to get a company to ally with another. I'm sure there's been some (or a lot) of you-rub-my-back deals going on.

[Go Blu]

Originally Posted by bluperch

Okay, just to be devil's advocate. Who says Sony hasn't bribed? I'm sure there are a lot of machinations behind the scenes that no one knows about. And it might not be a blatant money bribe, but a "partnership" or "business deal" or something that wields corporate political power to get a company to ally with another. I'm sure there's been some (or a lot) of you-rub-my-back deals going on.

Every studio has received "INCENTIVES" from the BDA.
That is the way the business world works.
and far from being paid off.

Technically they shouldn't care what is the better format just which one is better for business.

[bluperch]

Technically they shouldn't care what is the better format just which one is better for business.

Exactly. That's why technically inferior formats have won previous format wars. The difference this time (as compared to beta vs. VHS and other "wars" during the years) is that the better technology this time also appears to be better for business. And a large part of that is because Sony is NOT sitting on its hands hoping that people will simply gravitate towards the superior format. They are providing "incentives" to other companies and lowering the price of the PS3 and doing more extensive advertising.

And, of course, it's not just Sony, but the entire BDA that's being proactive. For example, all the BOGO deals the same week as Transformers.

[Branden]

sony should just hand warner some cash to encourage them to optimize their blu-ray releases. this means encoding movies twice, once for hd-dvd and once again properly for blu-ray. this inturn will result in blu-ray releases getting consistantly higher reviews for PQ/AQ than their hd-dvd counterparts thus dealing a heafty blow to hd-dvd, and keep us blu-ray supporters happy by not being given gimped hd-dvd ports.

[TauRus]

The losing side bribes, BDA and Sony do not have to at this point.

[CptGreedle]

Who said they haven't tried??

For that matter, WB said that they have been in close contact with both sides, and already admitted to rejecting the same (or similar) $150 mill offer Paramount got. Give them credit there for not pouncing on the dough, but taking the intelligent route and testing the market in 4Q.
It is possible Sony/BDA may have offered some kind of incentive to WB but that they are adamant about remaining neutral for now.

Either way, I don't think Sony will have to. Plus WB already showed that they won't be bought easily as Toshiba already tried. So instead of wasting their money on a bribe, just wait and see what they decide after the 4Q, and then see if extra incentive is needed at all. They might just join us of their own free will... as they should.

[WickyWoo]

The amount Toshiba paid Paramount (and probably offered more to Warner, because it'd be based on market share) is so outrageous compared to sales right now, it goes beyond explanation. It's not worth anyone's time but someone to which the amount is trivial (Microsoft) to spend that much, period

[glenn22]

Anyone who thinks that Sony AND toshiba haven't made offers to Warner for their exclusive support is deluding themselves. It has happened, GUARANTEED. Warner just either feels that it can do better financially supporting both, or they haven't gotten a good enough offer yet. Personally I think it's a combination of both.

[maximiza]

Blu is so good they should not have to bribe.