If there was ever a time to feel sorry for a corporate titan like Sony
It's not as though you could blame Viacom
But Sony isn't alone anymore in trying to promote Blu-ray over HD-DVD as the eventual replacement for the popular DVD standard. This week Disney
Blu-ray is superior to HD-DVD, given its greater storage capacity. Yet we all know that technological advances are dictated by popular opinion -- not a glossy spec sheet. That's why the two most important things working in Blu-ray's favor are Disney's endorsement and Sony's decision to buy the MGM movie library earlier this year.
Content carries a lot of weight. Yet eventually, once one platform emerges victorious, all of the studios stand to gain from the migration. With consumers rebuilding their video collections with older classics on the newest standard, incremental sales will reward the purveyors of content.
So don't feel bad for Sony. Blu-ray has a good shot at making it. And, as you can see, given Sony's girth these days (despite its stateside failure with Betamax), the future always forgives the key bearers of content.
Was Disney right to back Blu-ray? Should it have joined the others last month on the HD-DVD bandwagon? Which studio do you think has the most valuable content library? All this and more -- in the Disney discussion board. Only on Fool.com.
Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz knows he will have to overpay to be an early adopter if he chooses between HD-DVD and Blu-ray early. He owns shares of Disney. He is also a member of the Rule Breakers analytical team, seeking out tomorrow's great growth stocks a day early.