Blockbuster to carry Blu-ray movies

DALLAS, April 10 (UPI) -- Blockbuster Inc. announced Thursday it has started selling and renting Blu-ray format movies in thousands of its U.S. and Canadian stores.

To highlight the availability of Blu-ray movies, the company said it will play them on 42-inch, high-definition televisions on PlayStation 3 consoles in its stores.

Blockbuster said the promotional technique should also serve as a reminder that PS3 consoles double as Blu-ray players.

In addition to the selection of Blu-ray titles it offers through its mail service, Blockbuster said it this week began offering online subscribers a Blu-ray preference setting so they can automatically indicate they want to receive all available movies in the high-definition format.

"Blockbuster was the first national retailer to accurately recognize and react to consumers' preference for this format when we added Blu-ray discs to a large percentage of our stores last summer," David Podeschi, Blockbuster's senior vice president of merchandising, distribution and logistics, said in a statement. "Now, with this national rollout, we believe Blockbuster is perfectly positioned to drive consumer adoption of this next generation DVD format and to become the customer's headquarters when it comes to renting or buying Blu-ray movies, whether in-store or online."