MGM: Yeah! Us Too! With the Blu-Ray Thing!

Film studio MGM has announced it will release films in Sony's Blu-Ray next-generation DVD format.

Film studio MGM announced today it will support Sony’s Blu-Ray DVD disk format. MGM plans to begin releasing material when the new Blu-Ray hardware is available in North America, Japan. and Europe; the studio’s large library includes television programming and more than 4,000 films, including the lucrative James Bond franchise.

The announcement was not considered a surprise by industry watchers, since MGM was acquired in April 2005 by a group of investors, including equity firms, Comcast, and Sony itself. The announcement is the third in a recent string of major studios announcing they will release content in Blu-Ray format; Warner Home Video and Paramount previously announced they plan to support both Blu-Ray and Toshiba’s competing HD-DVD format, after having solely voiced support for HD-DVD.