According to an article in the El Paso Times, starting next month Blockbuster will finally expand the amount of stores that rent HD movies from a paltry 250 to over 1400 stores, and they're doing this exclusively with Blu-ray. They decided to not increase any additional HD-DVD support after their initial testing showed that 70% of renters were going Blu-ray last year. Matthew Smith, the senior vice president of merchandising at Blockbuster said, "The consumers are sending us a message. I can't ignore what I'm seeing." They will continue to rent HD-DVD movies online and at the original 250 stores, but this is a major victory for Blu-ray. Getting support from the largest movie rental company in the world will give Blu-ray a lot of additional exposure into the more casual market and and could end up being a decisive move towards ending the format war. Though you couldn't tell from this week's release schedule, momentum is strongly in the Blu-ray format's favor right now, and it's starting to look dubious that HD-DVD is capable of turning the tide. Now if only a certain movie studio would realize that as well ...
[Thanks Dom!]
