Blockbuster to gage interest in HD online prior to retail launch

April 19, 2006

Wow, this
next gen launch is getting uglier by the minute. Even though last January
Netflix proclaimed loudly that it was going to offer both Blu-ray discs and
HD-DVD, Blockbuster has told TG Daily they will also offer the discs-but only to
online subscribers. So don't expect to see the titles in your local brick and
mortar Blockbuster any time soon!

But the
announcement came parenthetically - not trumpeted like Netflix - in a news
brief about a customer survey about their willingness to adopt new
high-def formats. The results of that survey are in alignment with
those from research firms over the past year: Of the Blockbuster
Online subscribers surveyed (the total number of which is not available),
55% currently own high-definition viewing equipment, and 47% would be
interested in viewing a high-def movie. But only about a third were
interested in purchasing an HD DVD or Blu-ray player, the key cause of
their reluctance being price.

The titles offered online for "browsing" by these
customers will be limited to The Last Samurai, Million Dollar
Baby, Phantom of the Opera, and Serenity. It appears that this
is a pilot program to gage interest in the new high def format. So if people
begin to clamor for the discs online, then at some point they will be added to
the inventory in the retail outlets. The new fangled discs will be counted the
same as a normal DVD title for rental purposes. You can read the entire story at it's source here.

I had kind of hoped that similar to the launch of video tape movies that
rental stores would offer the players for rent as well. But, it looks like this
is not going to happen. They are not even going to stock the discs, let alone
players.

Source: TG Daily