A future for packaged media?

[Azumi]

Paid, Penton:

I have a question in the broad sense of the word over the events in the past few days.

Paramount's announcement has been met with a lot of puzzlement by the people at large, because it's not a business win but rather the withdrawal of a commodity from a big chunk of the audience. It's therefore legitimate to wonder if the consumer's preference still *accounts to something* in today's world (especially since Blu-ray is leading the sales), or if people are shown nothing but contempt by Studios who can flip-flop as they see fit.

Most of us realize that there's more than meets the eye behind the format war. But as the Warner's rumor grow stronger, we can ask ourselves if these Studios are totally disconnected from the reality and risk to alienate the very consumers they're after.

If we take the most vocal fans and detractors out of the equation, all we see out there, is that people DO NOT UNDERSTAND why the war is still on and keep getting fueled by business wins that treat people like simple statistics.

If Warner becomes exclusive to HD DVD, perhaps Blu-ray will still win the war. Or perhaps the red pill will win. But isn't there also a tiny possibility that consumers at large will just get fed up, and shun the high def formats? What happens to the Studios then if they end up losing this market and find themselves stuck with the diminishing returns of DVD and the uncharted territories of the VOD?

If the high def market fails, it'll become one day a subject for business schools, where people will exactly see the turning points where decisive actions would have made the difference, and wonder what made film studios run blindfolded towards the cliff.

Don't studio executives and creative people see this danger looming? Do they read the papers and meet real people aside from valets and gardeners?

Paid, Penton, I'm sorry if these words are a bit brisk -- they're not aimed at your efforts. I feel that it would be great if the upper levels (within the BDA members, but also at Warners) are made aware of these concerns.

Also, lots of good people out there gave Blu-ray the lead through their efforts and their wallets. Although that might seem naive, people on the street would like to think that their voices - and the numbers of 300 - still count.

In order to end this post with a purposeful question, Steve Jobs is someone who has a big influence in Hollywood... and they've been sitting on the board for three years. Isn't it time that you use this weapon and ask him to pay a visit at Warners and at the 5 or 6 big market-turning companies in the field?

Thank you for listening and sorry for the long post.