Sony Pictures Entertainment is delaying the launch of its first titles on the new Blu-ray Disc high-definition video format for a month, it said Thursday.The company had originally planned to ship eight movie titles on May 23 and seven more on June 13, but shipments of all 15 titles have been pushed back to June 20, said Fritz Friedman, a spokesman for Sony Pictures Entertainment.The delay is unlikely to inconvenience consumers, as the first Blu-ray Disc player isn’t expected to be available until five days later on June 25.Samsung Electronics has originally planned to launch a player on May 23, and Sony’s original launch date was chosen to coincide. However, a month ago, Samsung said it was delaying the sale of its player. At the time, Sony said it wouldn’t hold up its Blu-ray Disc launch, but on Thursday said retailers had requested a delay to match Samsung’s launch date. The fist 15 Sony titles will be: “50 First Dates,” “The Fifth Element,” “Hitch,” “House of Flying Daggers,” “A Knight’s Tale,” “Kung Fu Hustle,” “The Last Waltz,” “Legends of the Fall,” “Resident Evil Apocalypse,” “Robocop,” “Stealth,” “Species,” “Swat,” “Terminator” and “XXX.”Lionsgate Films is also planning to launch Blu-ray Disc titles on June 20. Blu-ray Disc is one of two new optical disc formats vying to replace DVDs for high-definition content, such as movies. The format battle has pitted industry giants against each other. The main backers of Blu-ray Disc include Sony, Matsushita Electric Industrial (Panasonic) and Samsung, while companies supporting the rival HD-DVD format include Toshiba, NEC and Intel.Players and discs for the rival HD-DVD format went on sale in Japan in March and in the United States in April.-Martyn Williams, IDG News ServiceFor related news coverage, read Panasonic to Launch Blu-Ray Disc Drive in June.Check out our CIO News Alerts and Tech Informer pages for more updated news coverage. Related content feature Key IT initiatives reshape the CIO agenda While cloud, cybersecurity, and analytics remain top of mind for IT leaders, a shift toward delivering business value is altering how CIOs approach key priorities, pushing transformative projects to the next phase. By Mary Pratt May 30, 2023 10 mins IT Strategy IT Leadership opinion Managing IT right starts with rightsizing IT for value While there are few universals when it comes to saying unambiguously what ‘managing IT right’ looks like, knowing how to navigate the limitless possibilities of IT is surely one. By Thornton May May 30, 2023 6 mins Digital Transformation IT Strategy IT Leadership brandpost Designing the campus of the future starts with high-quality 10Gbps connectivity By Huawei May 30, 2023 4 mins Network Architect Networking Devices Networking feature Red Hat embraces hybrid cloud for internal IT The maker of OpenShift has leveraged its own open container offering to migrate business-critical apps to AWS as part of a strategy to move beyond facilitating hybrid cloud for others and capitalize on the model for itself. By Paula Rooney May 29, 2023 5 mins CIO 100 Technology Industry Hybrid Cloud Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe