Did Blu-ray payoff Fox and Warner?

[CptGreedle]

that is compete BS! Warner said they received no pay out and Fox was never interested in going HD! They won't cause of BD+!
Meanwhile HD DVD camp continues to spread lies, filth, and FUD despite their failure! Someone please shoot HD DVD in the head and end this misery!

[monkeytap]

Originally Posted by buckshot

i'm convinced the only money any of the blu studios have received was my money. and lots of it.

exactly....the "payoff" from members of blu-ray.com was good enough

[TauRus]

After the Paramount fiasco with the pay-off that was widely debated all over the internet and in the media, which studio in their right mind would be willing to subject themselves to the same publicity.
But even "if" the pay-off did take place, i say, good, and thank you to BDA for putting that rotten red camp out of its misery.
Having said that, let me again say that I am also certain a pay-off was not the reason WB went Blu exclusive - it was something called "business logic", something that apparently keeps escaping from Toshiba strategists.

[seto]

This is simply FUD created by HD DVD zealots to make themselves feel better.

With all the negative press Paramount/Dreamworks received when it was disclosed that they did receive a payment for their exclusivity I would think that the biggest studio would not opt to go through what Paramount did. Simply bad business.

[HighDefChief]

There is a lot of hypocrites on both sides of the "pay out" issue

HD DVD owners are mad because Warner might of been paid or because they may have recieved incentives for Blu-Ray exclusivity

Blu-Ray owners are mad because because Paramount might of been paid or because they may have recieved incentives for HD DVD exclusivity

Anyone who thinks that neither company got great contracts with millions of dollars worth of incentives for exclusivity is crazy. The terms "buy out" "pay off" "bribe" are all too loaded and used to frequently by people who are dedicated to one side or the other.

There is no doubt in my mind that both Paramount and Warner recieved at least nice incentives to release exclusively on each respective format. X Million free discs, reduced replication fees for X years, X% off authoring cost for X number of films released. And who knows, maybe even straight up cash for release certain titles in a specified time frame. These multibillion dollar corporations make deals all the time, and there are definitely enough watch dog groups to keep an eye on possible illicit activity.

It doesn't matter who took what, the format war is essentially over regardless of how it happened.

[Petra_Kalbrain]

I'm of the opinion that IF it is true that FOX supposedly took a payoff to 180 a decision on their part to go HD DVD exclusive, good for the BDA!!! Give HD DVD a taste of their own damn medicine. When they did that to take Paramount away from us I was pissed. I wanted vengeance. I'm just upset that I don't know if it's true or not. If it isn't, no loss for our side. If it is, still no loss for our side. Either way, Blu-ray is now going to win.

[OokieSpookie]

Who cares?
I hope they did.
In fact like I said in another thread somewhere I hope they had huge coke filled orgies on piles of payoff cash while sending pictures with their cel phones to Toshiba.

Toshiba changed the rules when they bought Paramount, they can deal with the repercussions.

[Lord_Stewie]

Originally Posted by Batman00

But we were *****ing on how scummish Paramount was for taking the Toshiba deal. So what makes us different? Is it because we have more support? Is it because this is Blu-ray.com?

exactly, this proves my point this is business and sometimes it hurts when there is a rivalry going on. So if HDDVD did it, then BD can do it too. Its fair and square.

[Batman00]

Originally Posted by shadblz

exactly, this proves my point this is business and sometimes it hurts when there is a rivalry going on. So if HDDVD did it, then BD can do it too. Its fair and square.

Its funny, im a business major and i see that you have to look at both sides of the situation. Payoffs are always gonna happen, but you live on and adapt

[Blu-Beard]

Originally Posted by OokieSpookie

Who cares?
I hope they did.
In fact like I said in another thread somewhere I hope they had huge coke filled orgies on piles of payoff cash while sending pictures with their cel phones to Toshiba.

I love it

[Blu-Beard]

When I made the choice of which format to go with I don't remember taking into consideration the ethical values of either side. I went with blu so I could take advantage of a superior format with more to offer. If they did pay warner good for them now they need to take my hard earned $ and give it to Uni so I can get the Bournes on blu

[Elandyll]

It's funyn how a rumor can take a life of its own.
Note that the rumor never appeared from Finke or the NYT (when the payoff for Para was outted), but on blogs.

Fox was going to go HD DVD?
For what reason? The excellent level of protection offered by AACS?
Or the amazing capability HD DVD has with Region coding ?
$120M convinced them to stay Blu Ray? The studio that owns the Star Wars, the Simpsons, and Alien Franchises among others? That means that HD DVD was offering .. what? $80M ?

This whole thing is a giant LMAO.
Warner has publicly straight out denied TWICE the payoff. Not even a "no comment" ala Paramount, later turned in a "Oh, but it was -promotional- incentives". Wth do they want more?

Just more FUD.

[pro-bassoonist]

Two things I am going to point out to anyone who waves this asinine theory:

A self-admitted HDDVD fan is the producer of this piece. So, I must ask the following after reading this:

My mind and my heart were in agreement that HD DVD was the way to go. To not recommend HD DVD would not be true to my own convictions, and it would be unfair of me to not recognize Toshiba's accomplishment in bringing an affordable, fully developed product to market.

Many in the industry agreed with me, and no one in the media expected Warner to pull the plug so quickly when HD DVD stand-alones were selling so well this holiday season. As for my future course, I will recommend the Playstation 3 to people who want Blu-ray until fully specified Blu-ray Profile 2.0 players are available and their performance matches the PS3.

Unless everyone who writes is a total idiot and not capable of listening to what Warner were publicly announcing, that they will not stay neutral indefinitely, the above bit makes little sense if at all. It reeks of bitter fanboysm. Plenty within the media knew that a change of stance was upcoming. Especially when the very area, standalone sales during the Christmas season, was where Warner was looking for results is where Toshiba failed as well. Performance analysis is what took place not a mythical, web-fueled, payoff.

Second, this specific piece:

At the 11th hour, Fox went to Sony with its concerns and received a reported $120 million payout to stay with Blu-ray

Reported by who? Source? Name? Anonymous party?

No such claim has been reported. Not by an official source as it was the case with Paramount's defection.

All things considered, this entire article sounds and reads, for obvious reasons addressed above, as the creation of a fan who is bittered that his hopes were dashed by economics.

Dr.A

[Blu-Beard]

Look at the studio name in the lower left of this vid. Coincidence? I think not

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...arch&plindex=0

[Luis_A51]

While its possible that Warner or Fox got some sort of financial incentives to join Blu-ray there are other things to consider.

1) Fox likes region coding and DRM. HDDVD has neither (well AACS doesnt count) so therefore the advantage (and its huge) goes to blu ray.

2) The hardware, software data puts the advantage clearly on bluray.

So regardless of whether or not there was a pay out, there were CLEARLY VALID REASONS for them to choose bluray.

Other than a payout, there is absolutely no good reason to join HDDVD from a business stand point. Thats what HDDVD zealots fail to mention, and thats why this article is BS.

[victorvondoom88]

I believe NO is the correct answer.

But at the end of the day I really don't care if it ends the format war. It isn't like M$ has never done anything like that but ya know whenever sony does it their the "devil" according to M$ fanboys and HD-DVD fanboys. M$ is always a hero when they do it. Like the GTA IV "exclusive content" deal.

The only "incentive" I have heard of was sony eating the replication costs of the disc's.

[coolmilo]

Personally I could care less if Fox and Warner were paid off. Paramount and DreamWorks were paid off so who cares who else is/was paid off. This entire format war is all about greed anyway and big money could really care less about the average consumer. If this were not the case, Paramount, Universal, and retail would end this format war today.

[iceman]

This has already been discussed and it's complete BS. Fox even stopped releasing ALL their HD titles when AACS was cracked, while they were waiting for BD+. There are and were zero probability that Fox would go HD DVD.

Oh, and considering what gizmodo did at CES and the quality of a lot of their articles, take gizmodo articles with a grain of salt in the future.

Thread locked.

[kknight]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08012/848675-96.stm

In the past I have strongly recommended the HD DVD format as the best choice for consumers. Surprising developments this month led Warner Bros. to drop support for the format, which likely will lead to a Blu-ray victory in the format war. I started receiving inside information about a week before it happened and will recount the story here.

Warner Bros. publishes on both HD DVD and Blu-ray and found the "format war" was not only slowing the adoption of high-definition discs, but also hurting their regular DVD sales -- clearly an untenable situation for them. They wanted to bring the format war to a quick close by picking a side.

If they chose HD DVD, studio support would be roughly equal but would likely go HD DVD's way eventually, as Warner is the biggest producer of high-definition discs. If they chose Blu-ray, studio support for Blu-ray would be lopsided and the war would end more quickly.

When rumors started flying publicly, I e-mailed Jim Noonan, a Warner Bros. vice president, who immediately replied that they had not decided to change their policy. A WB executive in New Zealand issued an even stronger public statement denying imminent changes.

Obviously, they had decided to change -- they just didn't know the direction. Given their long partnership, Warner gave Toshiba an opportunity to lure a Blu-ray studio to HD DVD, in which case they would go HD DVD exclusive and give HD DVD a clear studio advantage. A deal was nearly secured with Fox, which had been having trouble with Blu-ray disc production due to the lack of manufacturing infrastructure. At the 11th hour, Fox went to Sony with its concerns and received a reported $120 million payout to stay with Blu-ray.

With no studio joining them on the HD DVD side, Warner's hand was forced and it went with Blu-ray, receiving a reported $500 million for doing so.

Obviously I am saddened by the implications for my readers, the industry and consumers, but still believe I recommended the better, more solid format, which was much more affordable, as well.

I was at their booth at the Consumer Electronics Show and regretted I could not find a single stand-alone player worthy of recommendation -- and if HD DVD goes away, the cost of entry to high-definition movies will be doubled. It's sad for the consumer, really.

My mind and my heart were in agreement that HD DVD was the way to go. To not recommend HD DVD would not be true to my own convictions, and it would be unfair of me to not recognize Toshiba's accomplishment in bringing an affordable, fully developed product to market.

Many in the industry agreed with me, and no one in the media expected Warner to pull the plug so quickly when HD DVD stand-alones were selling so well this holiday season. As for my future course, I will recommend the Playstation 3 to people who want Blu-ray until fully specified Blu-ray Profile 2.0 players are available and their performance matches the PS3.

------------------------------------------------------

I find it hard to believe this guy's article. Why in hell would 20th Century Fox go HD-DVD when Blu-ray is outselling HD-DVD everywhere in the world! 20th Century Fox is 100% behind anti-piracy and Blu-ray is the best choice for that... and it sounds like he's saying that Blu-ray movies will cost $60-$80 in price later!! WTF!? I highly doubt that...

[hc666]

Players will not double in price.

Too many new ones out in 2008... JVC, Philips...etc. Much cheaper players.

Prices will come down even more in 2008 for hardware and software.