EU expands informal DVD antitrust investigation

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission has expanded an informal probe into whether the licensing strategies of two rival groups of DVD developers are anti-competitive by seeking information from film studios, the EU executive said.

Developers of the high-definition optical disc standards HD DVD and Blu-ray are battling for a share in the lucrative audiovisual market providing they can convince consumers of a need to upgrade from their current DVD system.

HD DVD was created by Toshiba Corp., while Blu-ray was developed by a Sony-led consortium including Philips, Samsung and Sharp Corp.

The Commission, the 27-country EU's top antitrust regulator, asked film studios last month to send information by July 6 on how they decided on the two formats or whether they released films on one standard and not another.

"We have sent a request for information to a number of studios concerning possible discrimination against one or other DVD format," Commission spokesman Jonathan Todd said on Tuesday.

"We're at the stage of basic fact-finding. We have not opened a formal investigation."

Last year, the Commission asked for information from the developers themselves. It has yet to decide whether to open an antitrust investigation, under which it could order changes to business practices and levy fines.

The makers of the DVD formats can license their products to hardware manufacturers wanting to make DVD players and DVD producers themselves.