Back in the day, Toshiba was actually looking to spark up some sort of price war by snipping a couple dollars from the MSRP of HD DVDs. Now that Blu-ray is standing alone, however, it looks as if a startup distributor will be the one to finally shake some low-cost Blu-ray titles out. Reportedly, Blu-ray Only is gearing up to launch a line of BD flicks this August which will sell for around $11.98 apiece, and the first two titles will be The Last Time I Saw Paris and Beat The Devil. Granted, we aren't certain that each release will be under $12, and we aren't sure if each title will be a classic, but we are told that the firm won't be busting out any high-dollar discs. We'll be keeping an ear to the ground for future developments, as we certainly like the sound of things thus far.

[Thanks, xdragon]

Given that $100 at Wal-mart is essentially as good as cash, we can only imagine how titillating this offer may seem for Blu-ray holdouts. Announced today, the mega-retailer will be offering a $100 gift card with the purchase of any Blu-ray player from June 8th through 14th -- and yes, Sony's PlayStation 3 is included. In case this wasn't enough to maybe-possibly get the general public to actually pay attention to the format, Wally World will also sell "select" BD titles for $15 starting on the 8th. Since the format war ended earlier this year, we've seen report after report proclaiming that Blu-ray adoption just wasn't taking off here in America, but with a theoretical net price now close to $200 (albeit for a few days only), we can certainly see the masses taking notice at long last.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

In its latest financial results, DTS announced that it has completed the sale of its Digital Cinema business to Beaufort California, Inc. The move netted what to us seems like a small sum for such a well-known brand: $3.3 million, with a potential of $11.7 million more over the next few years. Taken together with the sale of its Digital Images business (image enhancement and restoration) to Reliance Big Entertainment last month, the company is dedicating itself to its consumer lines. The company CEO noted the growth potential in optical media for both standalone players and gaming consoles, and this move is pretty telling of how conventional movie houses are faring with respect to home theaters in the marketplace. Obviously, the DTS moniker will not disappear from cinemas. Our home audio has never been envious of the local cineplex setup, so we're looking forward to hearing whatever audio wizardry the brains at DTS cook up for our home rigs!

[Via Audioholics]

iProvo, the largest municipally owned fiber-to-the-premises network in the entire United States, has just been sold to Broadweave Networks. The Provo, Utah-based network actually reaches all 36,000 residents and businesses of the city, and manages to connect homes, businesses, government buildings, schools and even traffic signals. The sale price was $40.6 million, which is plenty to retire the outstanding bonds incurred by Provo to build the system. The City itself seems quite pleased, as it gains the advantage of the sale and it continues to enjoy the benefits of the infrastructure. Under the agreement, Broadweave will act as the network owner and service provider, while Provo retains a license to keep on using the fiber as it has in the past. Best of all, the new owner has already promised to "invest heavily in network upgrades in order to increase capacity, features, and performance for commercial customers," though we aren't sure if that means more HD content is on the way.

Don't peek -- which would you think is cheaper? A fiber-to-the-premises network touching 36,000 residents and businesses, or a 12-year old television channel? If you guessed the latter, you'd be badly mistaken. While iProvo was sold for a mere $40.6 million, Rainbow Media, the cable programming subsidiary of Cablevision, had to cough up nearly half a billion dollars ($496 million, to be precise) in order to claim the Sundance Channel as its own. Yes, the Sundance Channel. Richard Greenfield, an analyst with Pali Research, seems to think that Cablevision may try to combine its newest acquisition with Independent Film Channel, which just so happens to have a high-def counterpart. Of course, it's hard to say what will happen with it so soon after the buy, but if the sale ends up creating another (or more widespread) HD channel, we're all for it.

And you thought $49.99 was cheap. Word on the street has it that Microsoft's Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on, which has been seen as slightly less valuable since Toshiba pulled the plug on the once mighty red format, has stooped to €9.99 across the pond at GameStop (among other locales). For those not savvy on the absurd depreciation of the US dollar, we're talking $15.47 -- and that's with a Media Center remote bundled in, too. We're totally straight-faced when we say that's actually not a half bad deal if you're a fan of the media already out there, but the parsimonious among us are definitely waiting for these to come bundled with our favorite cereals before pulling the trigger.

[Thanks, Conor]

Make no mistake, we're huge fans of sales. But Amazon's latest "deal" has us scratching our noggins and laughing heartily all at the same time. Touted as a "limited-time offer," the e-tailer is giving away two HD DVDs (read: free, gratis, on the house, etc.) -- all you have to do is buy two Blu-ray titles... and a $450 Samsung BD-UP5000 combo player. Truthfully, we can't figure out what Amazon's trying to pull here, or why it chose to market this special in this manner. Sure, we can see sparking up a sale in order to clear out HD DVD inventory, and we can even understand hacking the price of the soon-to-be-discontinued UP5000, but this? Check out the read link and have a chuckle, won't you?

[Thanks, John]

Not like this comes as any surprise whatsoever, but the latest to jump on the HD DVD fire sale wagon is Discovery Channel. As of now, the firm is offering up its famed Planet Earth, Sunrise Earth and Discovery Atlas titles with massive discounts attached (some flicks are as low as $9.99), but alas, all sales are inevitably final. Still, $29.99 for the Planet Earth HD DVD set could be reason enough to keep that unsupported player around.

[Via John B.]

We knew retailers were washing their hands of HD DVD as quickly as possible, but it seems as if Best Buy is opting to initiate what we can only assume is the first wave of a fire sale by taking 30-percent off every HD DVD in its stores. At least, that's what we've confirmed for a number of locations. As of now, there's no word on whether the HD DVD players themselves will see equally steep price cuts, but feel free to drop by your local Best Buy at lunch and stock up if you so choose. 'Course, we've got a sneaking suspicions this 30-percent will grow to 50-percent and beyond in the not-too-distant future, but alas, the selection will probably be quite poor by that time.

[Thanks, Tim and Vince]
[Image courtesy of Aaron S.]

Truthfully, we reckon this moment is inevitable. With HD DVD hung out to dry by everyone and their long lost cousin, it's simply a matter of time before players are being traded for rides on the carousel. Nevertheless, reports are already circulating that Microsoft's Xbox 360 add-on drive could sink to $49.99 in the not-too-distant future, which may actually make it worth grabbing for the very respectable library of HD DVD titles already out there. Whatever you do, don't pay full price for this thing.

[Thanks, Steve]

It's not like there has been any shortage of deals on HD DVD hardware over the past few months or anything, but now that Toshiba (and almost everyone else on the planet) has officially yanked support for the format, prices are beginning to plummet en masse. First on the docket is the HD-A3 at Circuit City, which now sits at just $99.99 and comes with seven free titles, two of which are 300 and Bourne Identity. So yeah, if you've been waiting for this moment to snap up the failed format for cheap, hop on in -- but if we were betting souls, we'd say holding out just a wee bit longer would actually be in your wallet's best interest.

[Thanks, Dustin]

Call it a hunch, but we'd say you better get used to this. Merely hours after Amazon decided to whack 50-percent off of 150 different HD DVD titles, DeepDiscount has now stepped up to the plate and is offering up a smorgasbord of flicks for $11.06 and up. A whole chunk are pegged at $12.20, and amazingly, many of those bargain bin wonders are actually worth watching. For you big spenders out there, you'll find a whole 'nother gang crowding up the $15 to $18 range, but make sure you don't go overboard, okay?

[Via Electronic House, thanks Nfinity]

Amazon, everyone's favorite place to find discounted high-definition titles of late, has pulled out (almost) all of the stops in its latest offer. A full 150 HD DVD flicks are now available at 50-percent off, and there doesn't seem to be any major limits / restrictions, either. So, what's it to you? Stocking up, or staying away?

[Thanks, MikeUF]

Wondering when someone would one-up Amazon's fairly continuous stream of deals on HD DVD movies? Today's your lucky day, friends, as Barnes & Noble is currently offering up a wide selection of flicks at 50-percent off -- but the fun doesn't stop there. The discounts get even deeper if you're a B&N Member, and there's an additional percent-off coupon floating around if the deal just isn't sweet enough. Go on, add a few more to your collection -- what else were you gonna spend your dough on this weekend?

[Via SlickDeals, thanks Andrew M.]

Heads up, HD DVD followers -- it's not just Amazon dishing out two flicks for the price of one anymore. As of right now, Best Buy is offering up a select number of titles in BOGO fashion, but there's no sign of how long the offer will last. 'Course, it's not like the retailer hasn't given the Blu-ray camp its chance to get in on such a deal before, but apparently, big yellow is looking out for camp red today.

[Thanks, Mike K.]

Update: Seems this deal will cease to exist (if only momentarily) on Sunday. Thanks, TrentD!