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Anticompetitive practices between HD disc formats war investigated by EU Commission |
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Wednesday, 04 July 2007 |
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| European antitrust regulators are currently investigating if there are possible anticompetitive practices in the format war over HD discs, between HD DVD & Blu-ray. |
Hollywood's studios are currently digging up files, emails & records of phone conversations related to the competing HD disc formats after the European Commission sent out letters last month demanding evidence of their agreements & communications on the new generation of HD disc formats, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal. The European Commission appears to be interested in the activities of the Blu-ray group because of its dominance in Hollywood, according to people familiar with the situation. The commission is investigating whether improper tactics were used to suppress competition and persuade the studios to back their format.
The HD DVD camp has some success in its partnership with Microsoft's Xbox 360 videogame consoles & by offering cheaper players, the Blu-ray camp has gained the upper hand in Hollywood, with more studios backing its format. Blockbuster (US video rental store) also recently said it would exclusively stock discs using the Blu-ray format.
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