Sony Pictures last week became the first major studio to announce pricing for high-definition Blu-ray discs. New films in the Blu-ray format will wholesale for $23.45, a premium of 15-20 percent over what suppliers now charge for new standard definition theatrical DVDs.
Blu-ray disc catalog titles will be a bit cheaper, wholesaling for $17.95 — about the same price as DVDs when that format hit the market in 1997, Reuters reported.
The first Blu-ray discs are expected to hit store shelves by early summer. Sony said it would combine formats, such as DVD and Universal Media Disc (UMD) for Playstation in combo packs to result in lower costs than making separate format purchases.
