↑ Grab this Headline Animator

Blue Ray Technologies Goes Gold as First U.S. Indie Bluray Plant Opens

Blue Ray Technologies has completed its $12 million plant in downtown Spokane, WA, and produced the first run of true indie Blu-ray discs in the U.S. following an arrangement with GE Plastics. The advanced, eco-friendly plant may also be the first of its kind in the world.

"We are very proud that Blue Ray Technologies has produced the first American-made single layer Blu-ray disc with GE Plastic's products and technical support," said Charles Crew, president of GE Plastics.

Washington-based Blue Ray Technologies Inc. new environmentally sound plant to manufacture and distribute Blu-ray discs is now the first U.S.-owned-and-operated producer of Blu-ray discs. The plant will run nonstop and will eventually surpass 100,000 discs a day.

The development is significant because the major studios, led by Blu-ray creator Sony, control most of the world's production of Blue-ray discs -- mainly in Asian plants. Mini-majors, Indie studios, TV companies and record labels would have to stand in line and pay high costs to get Blu-ray product out for the rapidly-growing market.

The production facility is part of a recently unveiled co-venture by Blue Ray and award-winning producer John Daly's ("The Terminator," Platoon") own indie film production/distribution company Film and Music Entertainment Inc., of Los Angeles, to offer independent filmmakers and others a way to distribute their work on the new format.

"New technology will provide the next boon to film companies large and small as it did when VHS and later, DVDs came to market and created new revenue streams," said DVD pioneer and BRT chairman Erick Hansen. "Driven by the HD TV boom in U.S. households, a growing number of consumers will steadily replace their DVDs with high definition discs."

He noted that Nielsen says 70 percent of U.S. homes will have large screen HD TVs by 2010. "The DVD market is already flat and starting to slide," Hansen said. "Independents have to follow the majors in providing their content in next-gen formats. Plus, Blu-ray lets producers sell their content all over again."

Hansen is so sure of that future, he wants to be a major buyer of catalogs and new release rights in HD formats. "Blue Ray Technologies (

↑ Grab this Headline Animator

---

This article has been robotically scanned and tagged by Prnewsnow with the following search tags. No human manipulation of these tags take place.
| Customer | Pohlyco Com | |

---

4949 readers online...

, Local News