Woolworths dumps HD-DVD

Woolworths has announced that it is to drop HD-DVD from its product mix in March – leaving Blu-Ray as the sole ‘next-gen’ DVD format in its stores.

The decision was made by Woolworths execs after Blu-Ray discs outsold HD-DVD by ten-to-one at the chain over Christmas.

Woolworths will continue to sell HD-DVD online, but a new Blu-Ray-only chart will now appear in 820 stores online.

The retailer started selling both HD-DVD formats in October.

Sales figures clearly show that the market is moving towards one format of high definition DVD,” says Woolworths DVD buyer Steven McGunigel.

The main reason is the success of Sony’s PlayStation 3 machine. Because it plays Blu-Ray discs, there are over three quarters of a million homes in the UK that can view the new high definition format. There is nowhere near that number of HD-DVD players around.

Switching to Blu-Ray only will provide one clear offer to customers in the format they want to watch high definition movies in.”

The two competing formats have split the loyalties of Hollywood’s studios and movie distributors.

Blu-Ray has been backed by Samsung, Sony, Warner, Dell, Apple, Disney, Warner Bros and 20th Century Fox.

HD-DVD has been backed by NEC, Microsoft and Universal.