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Live coverage from BDA press conference


Andy Parsons take the podium and kicks off the show.
He introduces a panel of BDA members, including representatives from Warner, Disney and many others.


BDA has a content advantage, he goes on to explain how much more content Blu-ray will have than HD DVD.


Only 4 of the top 20 DVDs last year are from the HD DVD camp. Almost all the top 20 movies are only available on Blu-ray.

Understanding and solutions believe Blu-ray will sell more discs.

BDA really launched in mass in Q4 which is why they haven't had a huge penetration into the market.

Blu-ray has 96% of the HD player market in Japan. "In terms of Japan, the game is already over there."

Every major CE company in the BDA is also a major provider of HDTV Displays.
5 of the 10 top CE companies have released a Blu-ray player to market.

There are many devices available today, but only 2 were available before Q4.

The PS3 Advantage.
Sony has shipped 1 million PS3 as of December 31, 2006.
Survey from 10k respondents, indicate that they plan to purchase Blu-ray movies to view on their PS3.
75% of the respondents plan to use their PS3 as a primary device for watching movies.
80% of 1 million equals an installed base of 800,000.
The same source estimates that PS3 will far outsell the XBOX360 HD DVD Drive.
Largest variety of movies.
Largest variety of hardware.
Only gaming console with built-in HD movie playback.

3:11pm PST - Mike Dunn with 20th Century fox takes the stage.
On Dec 20th Blu-ray media sales outpaced HD DVD disc sales.
Fox will continue to be aggressive with BDJ.
7-10 titles per month, most will be 50GB.
Will continue with day and date releases.

3:14pm PST - Steve Beeks from Lionsgate takes the stage.
First studio after Sony to launch the format.
The capacity and the CE support gives them confidence.
They will release 18 titles by the end of Feb.
The Decent was 50GB and is the first with PIP, and has BDJ.
They announce more titles than we can type, look forward for the press releases, when they are available.

3:17pm PST - Kelly Avery from Paramount takes the stage.
MI:3 one of the best selling BDA titles.
Flags of our Fathers and many more.
Will release many Library titles including Payback, the directors cut.
She like those before her go on and on about how they will support BDA.

3:20pm PST - David Bishop President of Sony Pictures takes the stage.
He makes a joke about the Blue Man group that doesn't go over very well.
BDA has seen a 700% increase in software sales since mind-Nov. with the launch of PS3 and additional Blu-ray devices.
Top 5 Selling titles to Date in order: Underworld Evolution, Talladega Nights, Fifth Element, Click , Ultraviolet.

Sony will target 90-100 titles for 2007.
Once again there were many movies including Casino Royal which will be AVC encoded. All the big releases from the middle of the year will be AVC.
Half of the Sony titles will be BD50, despite what HD DVD said.

3:24pm PST - Ron Sanders from Warner Brothers takes the stage.
33 titles last year and the best selling titles. They will arm wrestle with Paramount about the total of MI:3.
The Matrix as well as Oceans series and Harry Potter in 2007.
No dates yet, but Blood diamond and We are Marshal as well. Again all day and date with DVD.

Bob Chapek President of Disney.
Over 20 Blu-ray titles in the first half of 2007, many world wide.
Mic makes loud noise, everyone jumps! Bob says "I didn't realize the other side wanted to win that bad" Everyone laughs.
He goes on to cover the previously announced Blu-ray titles.

3:30pm PST - Andy opens the floor to Q&A.
What is the BDA response to all the dual support?
The BDA welcomes the 7th player into the market and they don't think it will effect the market at all.

When will the format war end?
If we had a crystal ball we wouldn't need to do press conferences like this. It is a matter of time before the fact that BDA is the winner is evident to everyone.

How will managed copy work?
We are still figuring it out it is part of the studios plans, but they don't know how yet.

Will the Studios change size if sales go for HD DVD?
That seems highly unlikely to us based on the sales figures we showed today. Holographic might be the future, but BDA is now.

3:46pm PST - A gentleman goes on about region codes, Andy makes jokes about how long the question was.
The region encoding is supposed to be as non-invasive as possible as well as optional. They are supposed to be properly labeled.

Thats it no more questions, conference is over.