Universal makes quick jump to Blu-ray

LOS ANGELES Wasting little time, Universal Studios on Tuesday announced it would be releasing DVD titles on Blu-ray just hours after Toshiba announced it was exiting the HD-DVD business.

“The path for widespread adoption of the next generation platform has become clear,” said Universal Studios Home Entertainment president Craig Kornblau. “While Universal values the close partnership it shared with Toshiba, it is time to turn our focus to releasing new and catalog titles on Blu-ray.”

Universal was the only studio to support HD-DVD exclusively since its launch in 2006. Toshiba dropped the HD-DVD format due to slow sales and the loss of support from studios and retailers, most notably Warner Bros. and Wal-Mart.