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Blu-ray, HD DVD Target of EU Antitrust Probe
rfunches writes "The Wall Street Journal reports that EU antitrust regulators are turning up the heat on the Blu-ray and HD-DVD format consortiums. The European Commission has demanded evidence of Hollywood studios' communications and agreements on the new generation of DVD formats. From the article: 'The European Commission, the European Union's executive body, appears to be particularly interested in the activities of the Blu-ray group because of its dominance in Hollywood, according to people familiar with the situation. The commission is investigating whether improper tactics were used to suppress competition and persuade the studios to back their format.' The article points out that all of the major Hollywood studios except Universal are backing Blu-ray; Universal is backing HD-DVD. It also notes that while one industry watcher believes the first format to have an installed base of two million homes will come out on top, there were millions of Betamax units already sold when VHS won out in the format wars of the 80's."
Your're right. That war has nothing to do with monopoly, and shouldn't be touched by EU. Both groups have more than enough cash to persuade whoever they want to join their camp. Overall the one with better connections and marketing power will win.
Just my 2p.
"an experienced, industrious, ambitious, and often, quite often, picturesque liar" - Mark Twain
I sadly agree. If consumers are more interested in "zomg high-def jackass 2!" than they are in choosing a format that has more liberalized licensing, more power to them.
Assuming they're not using nasty tactics.
+5, Truth
as stated, the EU is trying to make sure there are options for the consumer, but basically, it boils down to this.
1) The average person cannot know all there is to know about everything, as such, most people don't know most of the things there is to know about what they buy. This means that the providers have a major advantage if they want to rip off or swindle someone. Unfortunately what the EU is doing is one of the more effective ways to prevent this, and thus could be considered necessary for people to not get conned.
2) Related to 1, "the consumer" is not organized or a group. Anything trying to protect the consumer typically has to walk a fine line to avoid things like libel, and there's a lot of data to parse through for some things. Add to that that these protective groups typically cant reach all consumers effectively, many will still make uninformed choices. As such, a group that takes consumer interaction out of the equation, to enforce a change, might actually be useful.
So, all the knowledge and organization is in the hands of the producer, not the consumers. While the consumers have the power, they cannot effectively wield it. Therein lies the problem.
So, in /. terms
US vs M$ Anti Trust - good thing
EU vs Hollywood Anti Trust - bad thing
Or am I missing something here?
init 11 - for when you need that edge.
Essentially, the government does a hefty amount to prevent consumers from being conned, and as a result, consumers are lured into a false sense of security and therefore are easier to con.
+5, Truth
HDTV penetration has to be much higher in all markets. VHS and Beta both worked on all TV's made at the time. These only work on HDTVs (to get any benefit from the formats). The majority of TVs out there are still SD. Likely by the time HDTV penetration is high enough, another format will emerge, or hybrid players will be very common.
They are investigating whether the named studios removed consumer choice by only releasing in BR format. A real open format competition would would be all studios releasing movies in both formats, and letting the consumer choose. What they need to consider, however, is that Sony now owns several major studios, so there is no reason for those studios to back their competitor.
Just like there is no technical reason a Nintendo game can't run on a XBOX. It's all 1's and 0's right?
But regarding the Blu-Ray and HD DVD there are storage size and other technical differences, which various studios might find useful depending on the situation.
Not to mention those pesky licensing fees. Why license both? If you do, you have to raise prices, and what consumer wants that? heh.
I disagree - the regulators are ... regulating.
They are investigating whether the manufacturers of players have engaged in anti-competitive practices when doing deals with the movie studios and other content providers. If it turns out that one or other of the consortia have strong-armed or bribed many studios into supporting their format exclusively then then there isn't a proper free market in next-gen players and the best interests of consumers are not served - consumers will choose to buy the players for the format with the most content available for it, regardless of whether that is the best format for consumers when judged on a level playing field.
One word:
Cartel
No one gives a crap about which format does what better. Honestly, in the context of playing movies and whatnot it really doesn't matter. I'm a pretty techy guy and I couldn't tell someone the difference between the two other than Blu-ray has more capacity, which doesn't affect movies that much (maybe a two disc HD-DVD set is one disc on Blu-Ray?) The winner here will be hybrid makers, as it won't matter who puts what out on which disc, it will play them all.
Why is this posted here when 99% of the people claim they will never own "DRM-infected" media?
This is the same reason why I think HD-DVD will eventually win out. China's HD DVD format is based on the HD-DVD standard and players can be made on the same assembly lines. This makes it much cheaper for them to produce an HD-DVD player then a BluRay. We are already starting to see this gap in shelf prices. Since all the cheap players (and really most of the players in general) come from China, this gives HD-DVD a distinct price advantage. I predict that once the HD market grows beyond home theater enthusiasts and console gamers, there will be a sharp shift in what people go for. Alot more people can/are willing to afford a $100 player then an $400 player.
on standard DVD media...
I predict that once the HD market grows beyond home theater enthusiasts and console gamers, there will be a sharp shift in what people go for.
You'd be right, if HD-DVD survives that long.
For the market to grow beyond home theater enthusiasts and console gamers, a dominant format has to emerge. (Or dual players need to become ubiquitous and cheap enough to make the format war a mute point). Most people aren't going to invest in a new format until they know it'll be around a while.
Right now, Blu-ray seems to winning. Partially because Sony bundled the player with the PS3, but mostly because Sony owns a freakin' studio. Sony has a lot of motivation to get top quality movies out fast on Blu-ray, and since they own a studio they can do this. (They also will never release their movies on HD-DVD, unless Blu-ray is dead). Except for Universal, which is backing HD-DVD, no other studio really cares a whole lot. So, Blu-ray is getting better content, and it's the content that sells the systems.
So, in the near term, you have Blu-ray winning cause Sony owns enough content to force it to win. The long term will pretty much be decided by how things shake out in the near term.
Unless HD-DVD gets a lot of high-quality content fairly soon, it's dead. (At least that's my prediction).
I hear people prefer to be called "people" instead of referred to as some faceless group of fucktards (i.e., consumers).
'Yes, firefox is indeed greater than women. Can women block pops up for you? No. Can Firefox show you naked women? Yes.'
The market doesn't keep itself free, the regulators do.
True confidence comes not from realising you are as good as your peers, but that your peers are as bad as you are.