New Line, HBO Not Covered By Warner/Blu-ray Announcement

[jed]

Though it's widely expected that Warner Bros. subsidiaries New Line and HBO will follow Warner Home Entertainment to Blu-ray exclusivity, for the moment they remain format-agnostic.

That's according to Warner Home Entertainment President Kevin Tsujihara, who said that the studio's announcement that it would drop HD DVD support does not extend to titles released by New Line, HBO or the BBC (which Warner distributes here in the US).

Full story:
http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/1328

[Blu]

With the region coding stance New Line has taken with their new releases (eg... Hairspray, Rush Hour 3) they are pretty much Blu-Ray exclusive anyways!

[ryanmcv]

That's interesting... but I'm sure they will all go Blu as well.

[barnak]

they was not almost already blu?

[pirates]

That's VERY interesting. That means Toshiba still has a chance to snag New Line Cinema. I guess there's the silver lining for the whole WB going Blu-ray exclusive situation.

[Septimus Prime]

Since New Line has been doing Blu encodes and not even releasing HD DVDs, I'm fairly confident that they will follow their big sister Warner.

[irrob]

Yea, lets not kid ourselves. Where Warner goes, New Line goes.

[JAG1977]

It's been confirmed the deal is for all of Time Waner companies.

They will simply have their own press release.

Will New Line and HBO drop HD DVD support as well?

Maspower1987

Yes.

This is across Time Warner, not just WB. All of TW's studios will be be Blu exclusive by May or sooner

[polyh3dron]

umm let's see here.. the lack of region coding isn't very friendly to the way New Line's business is set up and as a result, they've only released one year-old title on HD DVD to date. Their encode for Shoot Em Up would not work for HD DVD, they'd have to re-encode it. Does anyone honestly think New Line would NOT follow suit?

As for HBO, what have they put out so far on HDM, let's see.. the last season of the Sopranos broken into two insanely overpriced volumes. Would HBO seriously be HD DVD's saving grace even if they DID stay neutral?

[mic]

I'm pretty confident that New Line will be soon to follow Warner's decision.

[stevo4]

Nor does the agreement regarding the decision, indicate any reason that Warner could continue releasing in HD DVD's at some later stage if you accept they took no money, they are under no contractual obligations to remain BD exclusive, as is Paramount with HD DVD.

If you really think this decision will see BD any more likely to replace DVD, think again. This has not seen the end of HD DVD.

Like the reasons for Paramounts decision, the amount of revenue Warner get from either is to little to be of any real concern to them, to make a call like this.

If anything, this decision has only further relegated any chance of either format acheiving little more than what laserdisc did.

It only points to how PO Hollywood studio's were at Sony and Toshiba for not agreeing on one format.

[bigshynepo]

"New Line says it will follow the strategy of its parent company Warner, and maintain a format-neutral approach by releasing titles on Blu-ray and HD DVD."

-Newline Pr link

I bet they will follow their parent company to Blu Exclusive...

[E-Dogg]

Please the war is as good as over. Warner and New Line will go together and that's something that everyone knows. They are not even releasing anything on HD-DVD now except for Pan's Labryinth anyway.

[Samlives]

Hey Lets go visit Bob Shaye a glass of wine , some food and maybe he will go RED :P

[EShy]

Originally Posted by stevo4

Nor does the agreement regarding the decision, indicate any reason that Warner could continue releasing in HD DVD's at some later stage if you accept they took no money, they are under no contractual obligations to remain BD exclusive, as is Paramount with HD DVD.

If you really think this decision will see BD any more likely to replace DVD, think again. This has not seen the end of HD DVD.

Like the reasons for Paramounts decision, the amount of revenue Warner get from either is to little to be of any real concern to them, to make a call like this.

If anything, this decision has only further relegated any chance of either format acheiving little more than what laserdisc did.

It only points to how PO Hollywood studio's were at Sony and Toshiba for not agreeing on one format.

I think both Sony and Toshiba have a lot to profit from their format/technology/patents winning. A combined format could've let them both make money from it.
In the end, it's all about software, and the studios hold the right to the software and could've made the decision any time. They could even push the two competing formats to compromise by not releasing any HDM at all.

The little money they make on HDM now is not worth it, if there's one format they will make much more.

As for the fight with SD DVD, it's the same software from the same studios, they can do all kinds of things from phasing out SD releases to releasing on both for many years until SD is not relevant.
I still think the TL twin format would've been the best way to do it, releasing only one version of the movie that plays on all players