Almost as soon as they surfaced, rumors that Paramount was abandoning the HD DVD format in favor of Blu-ray have been refuted — by Paramount.
A Tuesday article in the Financial Times, citing unidentified sources, claimed that a clause in Paramount’s contract with the HD DVD Promotion Group allows the studio to switch to Blu-ray if Warner Bros. does it first — and since Warners did exactly that a few days ago, Paramount would have been theoretically poised to follow suit (and drive what would have been presumably the final nail in HD DVD’s coffin).
The only problem? The report isn’t true. Later in the day, Bloomberg published the following terse rebuttal from Paramount spokeswoman Brenda Ciccone:
Paramount’s current plan is to continue to support the HD DVD format.
“Current plan” is the corporate equivalent of crossing your fingers behind your back when making a promise, but still — it seems like you can hold off turning those HD DVD players into giant paperweights. For now.
Source: Financial Times
Source: Bloomberg
