Why was AAC never a BD/AVCHD standard?

[PuzZLeR]

Why was AAC (LC or HE) never included within the compliant specs?

It's by far the best compression format. Not only is it a great portable stand-alone format, it can also multi-channel, and is definitely the most likely candidate to replace the aging MP3. Dolby themselves participated in its design as well. It's also the "audio cousin" to AVC (H.264), which was indeed accepted within the list - a tad of homewrecking it seems...

I'm not saying kill AC3 - as "old and fat" as it can be - it's still the Cadillac of the audio compression scene. And LPCM is here to stay as the full-blown pure uncompressed version. But AAC is surely advantageous in many respects.

Apparently the MPEG ISO group that designed MP4 didn't connect with the Sony/BDA/AVCHD/etc group. The MP4 container accepts AAC, not AC3, however on BD it's the opposite.

This is too bad. AAC shouldn't be just a "song file" - it would be excellent for movies too. It can do it all, and do it well, running on a much lower bitrate.

Will it ever be standardized (other than for players that have a "file/data" mode, or gamer units like the PS3)?

What's others' take on this? Thanks for reading.