avzombie.com

It already snubs HD DVD in the UK, and now Blockbuster US has confirmed that it will favour Blu-ray over HD DVD in rental stores worldwide. Currently the outlet offers both HD formats through 250 stores in the US., but argues that as Blu-ray has generated significantly more business than HD DVD in those stores, it will support only BD going forward. Blockbuster promises that from this summer, 170 BD titles will be available in 1,700 stores worldwide. HD DVD software, however, will still be offered online.
Matthew Smith, Blockbuster’s merchandising senior VP explained: “While it is too early to say which high-definition format will become the industry standard, we will continue to closely monitor customer rental patterns at our stores and online so we can adjust our inventory mix accordingly.”
An angry Toshiba retorted: “We see this decision by Blockbuster as limiting a choice for consumers. The HD DVD camp has the fastest selling dedicated high definition player on the market, with a movie attachment rate that’s 4 to 1 over Blu-ray. And we’re forecasting more than a million HD DVD players by the end of 2007. Why would Blockbuster ignore these consumers when other rental chains are not?”