Warner may own MGM Update: Sony/Columbia buys MGM (1 Viewer)

[ChrisMatson]

For those of us that have not been following closely, can someone offer a summary?

Am I seeing this correctly?
1. Sony gets MGM, meaning NewLine/Warner won't get The Hobbit.
2. Sony now has a huge library, meaning Blu-Ray probably will be the winner of the upcoming format war, or maybe even pre-emptively winning before it starts.

What else?

 

[JackKay]

what eles, maybe a lot of people at MGM get laid off.

I guess I should change the name of this thread to
SONY TAKES LION SHARE.

 

[Andrew Budgell]

All I have to say is, thank god Warner owns the pre-1980's catalogue. I'd fear for GWTW, and OZ.

Andy

 

[TedD]

And why will it mean one hidef format? It's Columbia with some MGM titles against Warners with some other MGM titles. Not to mention all the other studios that will wind up backing one or the other of the formats. It'll be a format war no matter how you cut it.

Ted

 

[Lee Scoggins]

My understanding is that the MGM library under bid was full of valuable titles. It's certainly easier if BluRay can claim TWO full studios worth of material are on board.

The studio content - hidef video war is not yet won but I gotta believe this is at least a big victory for BluRay. Winning the battle but not the war...yet.

I think it's safe to assume this will put real pressure on HD-DVD to sign up a studio.

 

[Tom Tsai]

Oh well, I was really hoping that Warner would win the bidding. :frowning:

 

[DanFe]

Why so? They will want to make billions of dollars, I would presume.

 

[Randi]

SONY POUNCES ON LION
MGM sold for $2.94 bil, plus $2 bil debt assumption


A group led by Sony Corp. agreed in principle to terms with Metro
Goldwyn-Mayer to acquire the studio, hours after presumed frontrunner
Time Warner ankled the bidding.

Time Warner pulled out of the auction early Monday, saying the bidding
for The Lion, which owns the James Bond, Rocky and The Pink Panther
film franchises, had gotten too high.


Full Story at:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR111...goryid=18&cs=1


Miss Randi

 

[James L White]

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :frowning:

 

[WillG]

Uggghhhhhh. Why does it always seem things like this always go bad in my life. I had a bad feeling that this deal for WB was going to fall apart no matter how close to being done it seemed. Now one of the worst studios out there has more leverage in pushing their Blu-Ray format and now has acquired many titles that will have little chance of being corrected for OAR. Not to mention that this studio does not acknowlede customer feedback or talk to this forum. Sucks. Maybe at the very least, they will re-instate the SE versions of DVDs that MGM scaled back.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I guess that's the reason why next week, this same studio is hosting a large group of HTF members at their studio. Please, let's keep some perspective here.






Crawdaddy

 

[WillG]

Interesting, I did not know that.

But that still does not excuse their ass backwards marketing and pissing on proper presentation by actually dropping widescreen sides off flipper discs and their pan and scan only releases, some of which are scope films.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

Really. People are acting like another terrorist act happened.

 

[Dennis Pagoulatos]

I'm personally glad Sony won the bidding, since I think their Blu-ray format is superior to the HD-DVD spec.

-Dennis

 

[Greg Black]

I'm all for Blu-Ray, but yes, Sony aquiring MGM really sucks, for lack of a better phrase. I guess we can all look forward to Superbit editions of The Pink Panther movies, Spaceballs, and The James Bond movies :rolleyes

 

[Malcolm R]

Keep your friends close, your enemies closer.

Hopefully you won't all return as a bunch of fullscreen-craving, SuperBit lovin' Stepford HTFers.

 

[Don Black]

Yay for Blu-Ray. Boo-hiss for Sony's technical specs. Yay for Sony hosting HTF. Boo-hiss for Sony's technical specs.

 

[Damin J Toell]

...Yay for Sony not having an no-unrated-films policy, essential for MGM's diverse genre and cult catalog.

DJ

 

[Dennis Pagoulatos]

Care to elaborate on what's wrong with Sony's technical specs.?

-Dennis

 

[Paul.S]

Not in this thread, too, please. That issue has been thoroughly vetted in other tech threads easily found via searching.

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...hreadid=189449

-p