Los Angeles Best Buy moves out HD DVD software

Space taken up by Blu-ray, standard DVD

By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 3/26/2008

MARCH 26 | At least one Best Buy has moved to return all unsold HD DVD software this week and has expanded its Blu-ray Disc merchandising at the same time.

 Chain spokesman Brian Lucas said that there was no immediate plan underway to remove HD DVD stock nationwide. But all HD DVD titles had disappeared from the in-line racks of one Los Angeles Best Buy outlet by Wednesday afternoon.

Yet with new releases quickly drying up in the format, Lucas said, "I'm sure we will start doing that at some point."

Just a couple of weeks ago, there was room for 120 HD DVD facings at that same L.A. store. However, the L.A. outlet was nearly wiped out of its HD DVD copies at that time. Many shelf slots were vacant, and any featured titles encompassed just one or two units.

Today, in the spots previously held by HD DVD, the L.A. Best Buy had moved in a mixture of Blu-ray titles and some standard DVD product. Blu-ray rack facings totaled about 295, marking about a 50% increase from the March 14 week.

On Tuesday, popular high-definition fan blog AVSForum.com was buzzing about a possible Best Buy memo informing employees that HD DVD titles would be returned nationwide today. The memo explained that Blu-ray and/or standard DVD new release titles should fill the shelves previously designated as HD DVD sections.

It’s unclear if Best Buy is returning titles to their respective studio distributors or sending them to an inventory close-out firm.

Best Buy still had HD DVD titles for sale on its Web site. However, most titles were listed as being in limited availability or completely sold out.

After Warner Bros. decided to exclusively back Blu-ray earlier this year, Best Buy quickly decided to favor the format over HD DVD. The chain said it would emphasize Blu-ray over HD DVD starting in March.

At that time, however, the chain said it would still offer HD DVD titles as long as it made sense according to customer demand. Last month’s death of the HD DVD format likely has accelerated a drop in that demand for HD DVD software.