Will Disney and Microsoft decide to join the DVD forum?

February 26, 2004

There is an interesting bit of news over at The International Herald Tribune today. The DVD Forum, said Disney and Microsoft intends to join 18 other members on its steering committee. The forum, dominated by Sony and other companies that support the Blu-ray Disc format, allows voting rights on how data should be stored on the new discs. However, it's hard to tell if this is a done deal or what by reading this story. If these two companies join the fold, the steering committee is going to swell to 20 or more members.

Walt Disney and Microsoft was to join an industry group in Japan on Wednesday to help decide which next-generation DVD format should be used in the U.S. home video market.

The group, DVD Forum, said Disney and Microsoft would join 18 other members on its steering committee. Membership, now dominated by Sony and other companies that support the Blu-ray Disc format, allows voting rights on how data should be stored on the new discs.

Disney and Microsoft's presence may improve support for Toshiba and NEC's HD DVD standard, said Takutoshi Fujiwara of Fujiwara-Rothchild, a storage-technology consultancy in Tokyo that advises both Sony and Toshiba.

"With Disney and Microsoft joining, maybe the balance of voting power will be improved," Fujiwara said, referring to Toshiba's HD DVD format. "Then it will become much easier for the HD DVD specification to be admitted by the forum." Home DVD and VHS movies produced sales and rental revenue of $ 22.2 billion in the United States last year, more than double the total of box office receipts, Sony has said. Next-generation DVDs, with better quality and more capacity, are expected to help increase sales as fewer VHS tapes are transferred to DVD after 2007.

However, the article states that the Japanese representitive for Microsoft was unavailable for comment. I also did not see Disney making a confirmation either.

Ten companies on the steering committee, including Matsushita Electric Industrial, the world's largest consumer electronics company, and Sony, the second-largest, support Blu-ray disc. The HD DVD format has had the support of five other companies besides Toshiba and NEC.

The article also quotes a senior executive of Memory Tech who said, making an HD DVD disc would cost 10 percent more than a conventional DVD, while a Blu-ray disc would cost four or five times as much.

A Toshiba spokesman, said that "from an engineer's point of view, the Blu-ray is a masterpiece, but movie studios want lower costs."

Source: The International Herald Tribune