Interesting behind-the-scene information about Univeral

[Rio]

Interesting insider information about behind-the-door deal of Universal was leaked to Japanese discussion board.
Here you go...

1) Universal had an agreement which terminated the end of year 2006
- Based on the premise that Toshiba would release HD DVD player by the end of 2005 (actually it was pushed back to Spring of 2006),
- Universal would not release HD contents other than HD DVD,
- No obligation of the number of titles, but must release "strong" titles, including "King Kong",
- Money is paid under the pretext of investment for "King Kong".

2) In principle, now Universal is able to release HD titles other than HD DVD if they want. Univeral is not actively pushing HD business outside of US, its London office, which controls DVD business outside US, is not eager for pushing money hog HD title launch, that's the one of the reasons why Japanese Universal titles are not impressive unlike US.

3) There are another contracts with HD DVD studios, Universal, Warner and Paramount. Based on the premise of releasing player less than $500, studio has an obligation to release HD DVD titles at least 2 years since player release. Details of each contract varies on studios, but at least HD DVD title release is guaranteed until Spring 2008.

4) Rumor has it that Mr. Kornblau, president of Universal Home Entertainment, may (will) be fired by GE due to the business results. It also said that one of the reason why Univeral has kept releasing A class titles is because Kornblau needs to achieve the good sales of HD DVDs, since he is the person who committed HD DVD. Ironically, it was said he expressed that he wants to release titles as well on BD, however, since he committed to HD DVD publicly, it is difficult to announce BD title release. Therefore, there must be some face-saving reason for BD release, but PS3 may not be a good enough reason for it. If there would be no face-saving reason and Kornblau is fired, it would take at least another half year to decide BD release by the next management (it seems bad scenario for us).