Warner’s Total HD delayed until 2008

ESCA: Studio will release 10-20 titles at launch

By Susanne Ault and Jennifer Netherby -- Video Business, 6/27/2007

JUNE 27 | LOS ANGELES—Warner Home Video looks to be pushing the launch of its dual-format high-definition disc, Total HD, into 2008, from the second half of this year, as was originally planned.

Studio VP of sales and planning and operations Dan Miron said at a session during the Entertainment Supply Chain Academy conference here today that Warner will release its first titles in Total HD in early 2008.

Separately, Warner senior VP of marketing management Steve Nickerson said the studio hasn't yet set a launch date but acknowledged it's unlikely it will be in the fourth quarter.

Nickerson said the studio wants to launch the discs with 10 to 20 titles so retailers can merchandise them together in one section and they don't get lost at retail.

"There is no expiration date on the viability of this concept, so we’re not in a rush to do it," Nickerson said. "We’ll do it when it makes sense and when it's right."

Earlier, Warner had said the dual-format discs could be available by late third quarter or early fourth quarter this year.

Total HD holds one Blu-ray Disc and one HD DVD on opposite sides of the same disc.

Miron acknowledged that the additional SKU might further crowd already bulging retail shelves. But the studio is committed to satisfying consumers.

In releasing standard-definition, HD DVD and Blu-ray versions of films, “our research shows that there is demand for each of those products,” said Miron. “We are trying to evaluate [how to best treat] each one of these releases.”

To scale down its standard-definition SKUs, Miron said Warner is increasingly putting fullscreen and widescreen versions of films on opposite sides of one disc.

“That is one less SKU to sell,” he said. “With high-def, we’re trying to put Blu-ray and HD DVD on the same disc. Total HD is not coming until first-quarter 2008. We will find shelf space.”