Blu About The Slow Release of Classic Titles On Blu-ray? Take Heart!

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"As a consumer himself, [Feltenstein] personally thinks it's "horrible, ridiculous, and frustrating" that more pre-1970 titles are not available on the format, and believes "thousands upon thousands of people" haven't made the Blu-ray leap because few of the titles on store shelves interest them. ...WHV has recently made some "bold and aggressive" moves regarding classics, and hopes other studios will follow suit...."

Cubist commentary

A year after the end of the format war, this is the kind of industry news that we've been hoping to see. This interview with George Feltenstein, Senior Vice President of Marketing/Theatrical Catalog, is an incredibly detailed and informative article which explains the steps Warner Bros. Home Video is taking to bring their extensive catalog to Blu-ray. Explaining both the technical and economic challenges of conversion, Mr. Feltenstein shows that the world's largest home video company is committed to quality and making conversion satisfying and beneficial to the consumer and profitable for the studio. Feltenstein compares the evolution of catalog conversion on DVD with Blu-ray saying, "Remember, it was about five years into the DVD era before it became financially viable to go deeper into the classic library; we are about to begin year number four of Blu-ray in a few months, and I believe our plans for Blu-ray library marketing are in line with what we did - and continue to do - for DVD." I think we're going to see some new efforts by WB to keep their Blu-ray conversion efforts going, and undoubtedly some parallel efforts by other studios. And this could bring a significant change in the market for development services.

File under: Blu-ray News