Netflix prepares to offer HD DVD, Blu-ray rentals online
Los Gatos (CA)- This morning, online movie rental service Netflix announced its intention to begin offering HD DVD-based movie titles for rent-by-mail beginning this March, when titles are expected to be made available ; and will also be offering Blu-ray titles later in the year.
In a prepared statement that may be hiding a deeper level of truth, Netflix chairman and CEO Reed Hastings predicted that high-definition videodiscs "will greatly enhance DVD’s consumer appeal, and extend its popularity over the next decade or more." DVD, incidentally, is the existing format which both HD DVD and Blu-ray would seek to make obsolete, at least sometime during the decade of which Hastings speaks.
The statement refers to Warner Home Video’s recent announcement of 24 HD DVD movies to be released on 28 March, and subsequent announcements by other studios of possible releases of at least 20 titles for Blu-ray format, concurrent with the official launch of equipment supporting the format.
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