Paramount, Universal Officially Line Up With Blu-ray

The two studios that were exclusively backing HD DVD, Universal and Paramount, have both announced that they will be publishing their titles on Blu-ray.

Within hours of Toshiba's announcement that they would be dropping HD DVD, Universal -- the only studio to exclusively support HD DVD since the format's beginning -- said they would be switching to Blu-ray.

"The path for widespread adoption of the next-generation platform has finally become clear," said Universal Home Entertainment president Craig Kornblau in a statement.

"The emergence of a single, high-definition format is cause for consumers, as well as the entire entertainment industry, to celebrate. While Universal values the close partnership we have shared with Toshiba, it is time to turn our focus to releasing new and catalog titles on Blu-ray."

Today, the Hollywood Reporter -- which nailed Toshiba's impending decision to drop HD DVD last week -- is reporting that Paramount is also on board.

"We are pleased that the industry is moving to a single high-definition format, as we believe it is in the best interest of the consumer," says a statement sent to the Hollywood Reporter.

"As we look to (begin) releasing our titles on Blu-ray, we will monitor consumer adoption and determine our release plans accordingly."

As part of the studios' agreement with HD DVD, Toshiba's decision to drop the format released them from any publishing commitments.

It's not quite known when Paramount discs will begin to show up on Blu-ray, so we'll be on the lookout.

Meanwhile, High-Def Digest is reporting that Warner Bros., which decided to go Blu-ray exclusive in January, will continue to produce HD DVD discs until May, the studio's original date for ending production of the format.