The HD gravy train continues to thunder onwards following the platform victory of Sony’s Blu-ray technology, with movie rental specialist Blockbuster announcing the substantial broadening of its Blu-ray coverage across the United States and Canada.
Blockbuster brings Blu-ray in from the cold. Credit: FreeWine/Flickr.
Officially unveiled yesterday, Blockbuster Inc. has confirmed that it has already started to rent and sell Blu-ray high-definition movie in thousands of its stores throughout North America.
“Blockbuster was the first national retailer to accurately recognize and react to consumers’ preference for this format when we added Blu-ray discs to a large percentage of our stores last summer,” said David Podeschi, Blockbuster’s senior vice president of merchandising, distribution and logistics, in an official statement.
“Now, with this national rollout, we believe Blockbuster is perfectly positioned to drive consumer adoption of this next generation DVD format and to become the customer’s headquarters when it comes to renting or buying Blu-ray movies, whether in-store or online,” he added.
And, to further bolster the Blu-ray expansion, Blockbuster will be showcasing the technology’s arrival by playing Blu-ray movies on in-store 42-inch HD televisions connected to Sony’s hugely popular PlayStation 3.
According to Blockbuster, using the PlayStation 3 to run its Blu-ray promotion will also provide indirect support for Sony’s videogames console, which comes equipped with an on-board Blu-ray drive as standard.
The ultimate demise of Toshiba’s rival HD DVD format has been largely attributed to the vast installed Blu-ray user base afforded Sony through the popularity of its PlayStation 3 hardware.
HD DVD, which was similarly supported through Microsoft’s Xbox 360 videogames console, failed to benefit from similar (and potentially greater) installation exposure as the HD drive was a standalone optional extra rather than an integral component.
Beyond the physical spread of Blu-ray across Blockbuster’s North American stores, the Texas-based company is also keen to point out that it is introducing a Blu-ray preference function for its online subscribers, a handy addition which will enable them to automatically indicate that they wish to watch all available orders in Sony’s HD format.
Blockbuster’s saturation move follows close behind Blu-ray exclusivity deals announced in February by prominent American retailers such as Best Buy and Wal-Mart, and also online movie rental service Netflix.
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