A Studio Cabale Against both BR and HDDVD?

[Elandyll]

I was reading posts and found an interesting bit somewhere, mentionnning that a Universal exec would have said that they actually liked the format War.
This is hearsay of course, but it got me wondering: "Why would anyone have -any- interest in a format war?".
I mean, it's bad for business, it's bad for standard implementation, it's bad for consumers.
And then I realized (warning: conspiracy theory) that in terms of Long-Term market strategy, it might just make sense.

First, the facts. It seems that every time a side pulls too far ahead, something happens that would make the war last longer. Be it Fox pulling (temporarily) out, Paramount switching sides, Euro studios becoming neutral (after HDDVD exclusive), Disney freezing its releases anounces for '07, Fox delaying its releases, Warner releasing its biggest title only on HDDVD, then anouncing a huge load of releases on BluRay... etc.

Everything the studios do seem to be aiming at prolonging the format war.
Why? We all know that Universal going blu, even more so Warner, would end the war. Paramount switching while Blu had a huge momentum with 300 sales largely outselling their HDDVD equivalent was a weird timing.

So, what is their intererest if it is their goal? Producing both formats cost more, and if you only back one, you miss sales on more or less half the market. We thought until now that they were mostly playing the wait and see game, but what if there is more to it?
Short term, they lose money on HD, most probably. Not enough volume, and two different formats. But long term...

This is of course only a theory, but what if Studios (outside of Sony/MGM of course) have "secretly" agreed to try maintain a status quo until the war drags the Hardware prices so low and so fast, that mass market adoption only takes 2-3 years instead of 5-6 or more? In the meantime, financial agreements for the sake of pretending to take sides can and might cover part of the losses induced by the status quo itself (as seen with Paramount)...

I'm not sure I believe in this myself, I just find the Studio behavior pattern weird these days

[kaliraver]

Disney freezing its releases anounces for '07

That is not true its that 2007 is about to end there is nothing more to it. They have already announced titles for 2008. Why do people keep thinking that they aren't going to release more movies on Blu-Ray? Disney is true blu!

[SS316SRV]

And HD DVD was on the grassy knoll. Blu-ray never landed on the moon, it was just trying to beat the Soviets. I heard that HD DVD actually killed Bob Marley, and that the BDA was secretly filming the NY Jets' sidelines.

[kaliraver]

Originally Posted by SS316SRV

And HD DVD was on the grassy knoll. Blu-ray never landed on the moon, it was just trying to beat the Soviets. I heard that HD DVD actually killed Bob Marley, and that the BDA was secretly filming the NY Jets' sidelines.

lol @ jets.