At Toshiba, Times Are Tough
Posted by junger | January 10th, 2008
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There's no question that this CES hasn't gone as planned for Toshiba.
Last Thursday night (the day before the official news broke) Friday, the company found out that Warner Bros. would only be releasing titles on the Blu-ray disc format, the main competitor to Toshiba's HD DVD disc.
As Warner goes, so goes the war.
New Line followed Warner out, as did HBO.
Now reports are coming in that Universal and Paramount are contemplating switching, but can't confirm any rumors.
HD DVD has essentially been declared dead.
I spent some time this afternoon talking to Toshiba reps, and the mood is gloomy. They're obviously trying to spin it positively, putting out the message that their retail partners will continue to sell their HD DVD players.
But beyond that, they aren't saying much. In my sit down with a company exec, nearly all of my questions — which were not that hard hitting — got the talking points treatment.
Q: "When did you find out about Warner's decision?"
A: "Roughly the same time you did."
Considering that I didn't find out until Saturday night, I'm hoping that he misspoke. (A Toshiba PR rep let it slip that they found out Thursday night.)
They acknowledge that Warner's decision is a "setback," but they wouldn't answer my question about any fears of other studios leaving.
Q: "So you're not afraid of other studios leaving?"
A: "I didn't say that."
They're also pushing the idea that the final decision is up to consumers, but won't talk about them choosing Blu-ray.
Q: "What happens if consumers choose Blu-ray this year?"
A: "I won't speculate on 2008."
I feel for the HD DVD camp, but in the end, one format is the best for consumers.
I've asked both sides where they thought it went wrong; at some point, the two sides could have agreed on a unified format. The Blu-ray camp has said it was a capacity issue. The HD DVD/Toshiba side didn't say, but says that capacity was "a big thing in the beginning."
We'll all look at this CES as a turning point in the format war. For HD DVD, it's starting to look like a slippery slope down the hill.
Update: Toshiba has clarified that they found out about the Warner decision when the press release hit on Friday, not Thursday night.
