Blockbuster expands Blu-ray offerings

DALLAS Blockbuster announced today that it is expanding its Blu-ray disc offerings to 1,700 stores by mid July. The company said it will continue to offer both Blu-ray and HD DVD titles through its online rental service and will continue to offer both formats at its initial 250 stores that currently carry both high-definition formats.

"We intend to meet the demands of our customers and based on the trends we're seeing, we're expanding our Blu-ray inventory to ensure our stores reflect the right level of products," said Matthew Smith, senior vp of merchandising for Blockbuster. "While it is still too early to say which high-definition format will become the industry standard, we will continue to closely monitor customer rental patterns both at our stores and online, so we can adjust our inventory mix accordingly and ensure that Blockbuster is offering customers the most convenient access to the movies they want, in the format they want."