Paramount announces support for Blu-Ray too

Blu-Ray has scored a new victory in the war of the next-gen formats, following Paramount Home Entertainment's announcement that it will no longer be solely supporting HD-DVD.

As a result, Paramount has become the first movie studio to commit to both formats - and another blow has been struck against HD-DVD as the Toshiba-led camp loses the full support of one of its staunchest members.

Explaining the decision, Paramount Home Video president Thomas Lesinski said: "We have been intrigued by the broad support of Blu-Ray, especially the key advantage of including Blu-Ray in PlayStation 3.

"After more detailed assessment and new data on cost, manufacturability and copy protection solutions, we have now made the decision to move ahead with the Blu-ray format."

"We believe the unique portfolio of Viacom content coupled with this format will provide great benefit for consumers and our shareholders alike," he concluded.

Hollywood's trade press is predicting that Warner Bros. will follow Paramount's lead by the end of the week, something which would further damage the HD-DVD cause. Studios which have already announced their support for Blu-Ray include Disney, Fox and MGM.

Paramount's move could further encourage Toshiba to look again at the possibility of working with Sony to create a unified disc format. Negotiations between the two camps collapsed in June, but last week Toshiba president Yoshihide Fujii said that the company had "No intention of giving up on creating a single format."