• Reuters, Tuesday, February 28, 2006 11 AM

Sony Pictures is stepping up its battle for control of the home viewing movie market with the planned introduction of its new Blu-ray DVD format to U.S. stores in late May, to coincide with the launch of compatible disc players. Sony's Blu-Ray is in a multibillion-dollar standards war with rival Toshiba Corp., whose HD DVD format competes with Blu-ray. The new technology offers players and discs with greater capacity and interactive features, and each side hopes their version will be the one to reignite a sagging $24 billion home video market. Sony and MGM Home Entertainment will first release eight Blu-ray titles, followed by another eight in mid-June. The first movie titles include "50 First Dates," "The Fifth Element," "Hitch" and "House of Flying Daggers." Sony said its target delivery date would coincide with the launch of the first commercially available Blu-ray disc player by Samsung Electronics Co. Other Blu-ray disc players are scheduled to be produced by Sony and Pioneer.

Read the whole story at Reuters »