As predicted it seems Toshiba is about to throw in the towel with its HD DVD format.

The BBC article reads:

“”There have been media reports that Toshiba will discontinue its HD DVD business,” a Toshiba spokesman said.

“In fact, Toshiba has not made any announcement or decision. We are currently assessing our business strategies, but nothing has been decided at the moment.”

Last month, Warner Brothers became the fifth Hollywood studio to throw its weight behind Sony’s Blu-ray format, leaving just Universal Pictures and Paramount Pictures favouring HD DVD.

 

Analysts had seen this decision to switch allegiances as a tipping point.

Video rental firms, including Blockbuster and Netflix, have said they will phase out the Toshiba-backed format.

And last week, Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, announced it would only sell high-definition DVDs in the Blu-ray format at its 4,000 US stores.

It’s actually quite surprising that upon this rumour coming out Toshiba share price actually went up.

All I can say is I am sorry for everyone who bought one. However, personally I am glad I backed Sony as once again it seems the Playstation has come to its rescue. Now at least everyone who has bought a high definition player knows where they stand.

About Chris Norton

Chris Norton is the founder of Prohibition and an award winning communications consultant with more than twenty years’ experience. He was a lecturer at Leeds Beckett University and has had a varied PR career having worked both in-house and in a number of large consultancies. He is an Integrated PR and social media blogger and writes on a wide variety of blogs across a huge amount of topics from digital marketing, social media marketing right through to technology and crisis management.