Circuit City Drops HD DVD(Link to Article)

[dewey79]

http://www.1080living.com/modules.ph...article&sid=17

Circuit City in a not so surprising move has discontinued the HD-DVD format in favor of expanding it's Blu-Ray lineup.

Circuit City-long a unofficial supporter of Blu-Ray has always carried HD-DVD in limited quantities vs. it's Blu-Ray inventory. Sources say that this move is not a direct response to Warner studios announcements but more related to the lopsided sales makeup of Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD which in the past weeks has been 85:15 in favor of Blu-Ray says several industry sources

1080living.com contacted 7 Circuit City locations. 5 would not comment citing policies against disclosing merchandising changes, while 3 confirmed that the company has discontinued the HD-DVD format. One store manger informed us, "This move is for business reasons only as Circuit City is committed to the next generation of Hi Def DVD viewing. Based on company sales of the two formats which consisted of 87 percent for Blu-Disc and 13% for HD the company felt that now should be the time to fully commit our resources to one format. Circuit City is the leader of technology and this move again reinforces out commitment to offering out customers the very best available. We expect our competitors to follow suit shortly."

As a result, Circuit City stores will be placing all HD-DVD players on clearance and though no specific price has been announced we were told to expect players in the $100 range.