This just in from over at C|net. Around here, we know that blue laser products were stalled for some time and it certainly seems to be over concerns surrounding Hollywood, at least from what we can gather. Because it is a belief of both the camps, again from what we have all read, that movie content is the key to winning the blue laser format war. Definitely, we know that the technology, the hardware and media, has been ready for sometime, at least for Blu-ray. We at CD Freaks were even able to watch a flawless demo of a tri-mode Blu-ray PC drive burner, at the January 2005 CES!
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this exciting report, now we are going to be able to follow a dialog with European investigators and movie studios, as the European Commission representatives have arrived in Hollywood and they are asking questions. For instance, they want to know whether studios have been pressured by rival manufacturers of next-generation high definition DVDs to favor one standard over another.
The European Commission is conducting an investigation in order to determine if the manufacturers of the blue laser products are not attempting to stifle competition through exclusive contracts with studios and computer makers. For the purpose of the investigation, the studios are being asked to provide any e-mail messages, faxes, PowerPoint presentations, meeting notes, internal reports and even conversations, that may have information indicating deals with the high definition product manufacturers.
To top it off, it looks like Sony is right in the middle of the spotlight. Something they probably don't want right now with the fast approaching, November release date of the Blu-ray packing PlayStation 3 console. Yet, it is this console and also the fact that Sony is also the owner of a motion picture studio, that causes them to be under such scrutiny. Obviously, for these reasons, they have a lot of clout and also...a lot to lose if Blu-ray tanks!
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As a result, "Sony will probably be looked at most closely," said Jackson, adding that Europe would "want to make sure Sony is not justifying an exclusionist policy" intended to tip the market in its favor, or lock customers and consumers into a single technology. Sony, in an e-mailed statement, said that it was cooperating with the commission and that "there are no indications of any complaint, nor of any antitrust concerns on the part of the commission or anyone else." Keisuke Ohmori, a spokesman for Toshiba, said it was also cooperating but highlighted that its format was a "really open standard defined democratically." Mark Gray, a spokesman for Europe's competition commissioner, Neelie Kroes, declined to comment. |
Well, let's stay tuned to this one, as it will be fun to see what the European Commission can uncover, either way. At least they are stirring up some mud and bringing attention to the possibility of an important issue to us lowly end users, you know, the customer? After all, if we have to suffer through yet another format war, we as consumers, would like this battle to be waged fairly and the best man win. This would of course be the best way to insure better products and more competitive pricing for hardware and media, if we have a way to insure a level playing field.
Source: C|net
