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HD DVD rebate drops player price to $299

Aggressive campaign gives away five discs with purchase of set-top

By Jennifer Netherby -- Video Business, 5/16/2007

MAY 16 | HD DVD backers have launched an aggressive multi-million-dollar consumer marketing campaign that includes trailers before some of the biggest summer theatrical releases and instant rebates off players at select retailers.

Toshiba will begin offering a $100 instant rebate May 20 off its entry-level HD-A2 player, effectively cutting the price to $299 at Best Buy, Circuit City, Amazon.com, HHGregg and other participating retailers.

The promotion coincides with Warner Home Video’s May 22 release of The Complete Matrix Trilogy, The Ultimate Matrix Trilogy and Letters From Iwo Jima on HD DVD along with Paramount Home Entertainment’s HD DVD release of Flags of Our Fathers.

The rebate will run for one month. Toward the latter end, Toshiba will extend the rebate to other products.

Beginning June 16, Toshiba consumers who purchase the HD-A20 model also will get a $100 rebate, cutting the price of that player to $399. Consumers who buy a 42-inch Toshiba HDTV and any HD DVD player will get a $200 instant rebate.

Toshiba also is offering purchasers of HD DVD players five free HD DVD movies through July 31.

Panasonic is delivering a $599 Blu-ray Disc player bundled with five Blu-ray discs later this month or early June.

“HD DVD is an evolution of the DVD format into high-definition, but the format offers much more, so educating consumers on the quality and new features is an important step as more households purchase high-definition TVs,” said Jodi Sally, VP of marketing at Toshiba America Consumer Products. “We know that price is a powerful driver for consumers to adopt new technology, which is why our rebate promotion is a great incentive to bring cinema-quality, high-definition movies into your home today.”

Toshiba lowered the price on its bottom-line player to $399 on April 1 and saw an immediate sales increase. More than 100,000 HD DVD set-top players have now sold.

Earlier this month, the HD DVD Promotional Group began running trailers promoting HD DVD in AMC, Regal and Cinemark theaters before such blockbuster films as Spider-Man 3—from staunch Blu-ray Disc supporter Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

Promotions will play for four weeks and are meant to show off the quality and value of HD DVD, as well as the format’s interactive features and the movie lineup. Through the theatrical ads running in 932 theaters nationwide, the HD DVD Group expects to reach 30 million viewers.

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