Blu-ray outsells HD-DVD in U.S. for first 9 months

By Sue Zeidler

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Blu-ray DVD titles outsold rival HD-DVD titles by almost 2-to-1 in the first nine months of the year, but analysts expect additional HD-DVD support and new hit releases to "transform" the high-definition DVD battle score in the fourth quarter.

Home Media Research, a division of Home Media Magazine, said on Tuesday total U.S. sales of Blu-ray discs, using a Sony Corp (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)-backed technology, totaled 2.6 million units from January 1 through Sept 30, versus 1.4 million HD-DVD discs sold.

HD-DVD was developed by Toshiba Corp (6502.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz). It is backed by Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) as well as film studios like Time Warner Inc's TWX.N Warner Bros.

The division in Hollywood grew deeper in August when Paramount Pictures (VIAb.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc (DWA.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) signed exclusivity deals to distribute their next-generation discs on HD-DVD format for the next 18 months.

Gerry Kaufhold, analyst with In-Stat research firm, believes newly released HD-DVD titles with new advanced Web-enabled features, such as Paramount's "Transformers", will help the HD-DVD camp in the fourth quarter.

Paramount Home Video said that "Transformers" had the biggest debut of any high-definition titles, selling over 100,000 HD-DVDs on Oct 16, its first day of release.

Tom Adams, president of Adams Media Research, also said the 18-month period of exclusivity for HD-DVDs by Paramount and DreamWorks should strengthen HD-DVD's hand this quarter.

"This definitely smooths out the edge that Blu-ray had in exclusive titles and it very much strengthens HD-DVD's hand in the fourth quarter," he said, but still expects Blu-ray will