CES 2008: HD DVD Press Conference Canceled

An HD DVD press conference scheduled for Sunday evening at CES 2008 was canceled in the wake of Tim Warner Inc.’s surprise announcement that it was dropping Toshiba’s high-definition format in favor of Blu-ray.

Sunday’s press conference was canceled by the HD DVD Promotional Group just one day before the proposed event. In a statement to the press, the group acknowledged that the bombshell announcement from Time Warner led to the cancellation. "We are currently discussing the potential impact of this announcement with other HD DVD partner companies and evaluating next steps," the group said in the statement. "We believe the consumer continues to benefit from HD DVD’s commitment to quality and affordability - a bar that is critical for the mainstream success of any format."

Warner Bros. and parent company Time Warner announced they were dropping HD DVD two days ago. Warner Bros. will now support Blu-ray exclusively along with Disney, Sony, MGM, New Line Cinema, and News Corp.’s 20th Century Fox. That leaves Paramount, Universal Studios, The Weinstein Company, and DreamWorks Pictures and DreamWorks Animation as the only exclusive HD DVD supports. Paramount and DreamWorks had been producing discs fro both formats this year but dropped Blu-ray in August.

Sunday’s press conference was schedule to feature executives from Microsoft, Toshiba, Intel, Paramount, Universal Studios and, ironically, Warner Bros. The turn of events at this year’s CES is a sharp contract to last year’s convention. A year ago, HD DVD appeared to be making strong progress and it had a major presence at CES 2007, while the Blu-ray Disc Association did not have a press conference or other pres events at the show.

While Toshiba executives have brushed off growing concerns that the HD DVD format is dying, recent sales figures for both high definition disc plays and discs have favored Blu-ray. The Blu-ray Disc Association’s press conference is scheduled for Monday night, and the group will no doubt use the recent events to its advantage.