Blu-ray’s American blues

With sales of Blu-ray faltering in the US, and set to take even more of a hammering as the economy rocks still further, the format faces being kicked while it’s down by Blockbuster. The rental giant’s CFO Thomas Casey has told investors that with no more than five per cent of overall disc sales, blu-ray is unlikely to become the format of choice for buying or renting movies in the near future.

Casey reckons American consumers are currently unprepared to replace their existing DVD collections with Blu-ray, and that this is being compounded by the fragile state of the US economy.

Indeed, according to data from Nielsen VideoScan, Blu-ray’s market share fell to just eight per cent of disc sales during the week ending September 14.

Meanwhile, blu-ray player prices are set for a dramatic fall - below $200 - according to industry observers in the US. Big discounts are expected in November, when the retailers reveal their ‘Black Friday’ sales prices. Black Friday is the Friday after Thanksgiving, which heralds the US sales season.

Of course, such a sharp decline in prices might inject much needed interest in the format, and generate future sales of hardware as well as software. Not that this is much comfort for US retailers who are already feeling the pinch of the economy and eroding retail prices. Happy Holidays? Not for American CE retailers this coming Christmas…

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