Lions Gate Home Entertainment plans to release movies in the Blu-ray high-definition digital format. The company is latest DVD distributor to endorse the technology. Universal Music Group also announced plans to back Sony’s next-generation DVDs.
Blu-ray’s storage capacity, along with the level of copyright protection the format offers, demonstrated manufacturability, and acceptable cost proposition, made it the perfect choice for Lions Gate, said Steve Beeks, president of Lions Gate Entertainment.
So far the major studios supporting Blu-ray are Sony Pictures Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox and Disney. Warner Bros., Universal Pictures and Paramount Pictures are backing the rival HD-DVD format. Critics argue that the continued format war will result in consumers avoiding the purchase of hardware and software for both formats.
