So DreamWorks was "well-compensated" for backing HD DVD. Now of course this isn't surprising, and it's no better or worse than people like Intel paying for 90% of PC World's TV advertising costs as long as they feature Intel kit and the swirl, but it surely is a distortion of the free market. A bribe, if you will.
Presumably both camps were at it; and presumably both camps fully intended to make enough moolah from disc sales to more than cover such costs of marketing. But are we as consumers happy that the Blu-ray discs that we will be buying are even more expensive than they might have been simply as a result of this game of chicken having been played by manufacturers and distributors? They will talk about recouping costs, but far too much of the cost isn't R&D, it's bribes.
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Compensation
So DreamWorks was "well-compensated" for backing HD DVD. Now of course this isn't surprising, and it's no better or worse than people like Intel paying for 90% of PC World's TV advertising costs as long as they feature Intel kit and the swirl, but it surely is a distortion of the free market. A bribe, if you will.
Presumably both camps were at it; and presumably both camps fully intended to make enough moolah from disc sales to more than cover such costs of marketing. But are we as consumers happy that the Blu-ray discs that we will be buying are even more expensive than they might have been simply as a result of this game of chicken having been played by manufacturers and distributors? They will talk about recouping costs, but far too much of the cost isn't R&D, it's bribes.