HD DVD Hardware and Content ``Now Playing'' at the Consumer
Electronics Show; Leading Consumer Electronics and PC Companies Unveil
New HD DVD Hardware; Hollywood Studios Showcase Availability of HD DVD
Content Starting March 2006

2006 International CES

LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 4, 2006--The HD DVD Promotion Group,
a multinational organization comprised of more than 120 top consumer
electronics, IT, disc replication and entertainment companies, today
announced at the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that
next-generation, HD DVD players and leading film content will be
widely available in the U.S. market beginning March 2006.


At a press conference featuring top executives from each industry,
Toshiba demonstrated the unparalleled sights and sounds created by the
company's first two production HD DVD player models. The players will
be available in the U.S. in March 2006, with prices starting at
$499.99 -- ushering in a new era of high-definition home
entertainment. Today online retailers, including Amazon.com, Best
Buy.com, Crutchfield.com and Tweeter.com, have started accepting
pre-orders.

Microsoft also announced it will offer a new Xbox 360 external HD DVD
drive in 2006. The new drive will offer millions of Xbox 360 owners
the ability to easily enjoy HD DVD movies, adding more high definition
choices to the popular gaming and entertainment system.

Warner Home Video, Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment, Universal
Pictures, HBO Video and New Line Home Entertainment were also on stage
to announce that nearly 50 HD DVD titles, including "Aeon Flux,"
"Batman Begins," "The Bourne Supremacy," "Jarhead," "The Matrix "and
"U2: Rattle & Hum," will be available this Spring to coincide with the
launch of the players. The studios also outlined plans to release
additional titles throughout the year. More than 150 titles are
expected to be available in time for the 2006 holiday season.

"We're proud that HD DVD will be appearing in a living room near you
in a matter of weeks, with affordable players and the hottest film
titles," said Yoshihide Fujii, corporate senior vice president and
president and CEO of Digital Media Network Company, Toshiba
Corporation. "With the support of leading studios, consumer
electronics manufacturers and PC industry titans, I can confidently
say that HD DVD will have the time to market advantage and the breadth
of content to show consumers that this is the next-generation HD
format."

"We have reached a point where consumer interest in high-definition
programming far outweighs availability," said Warren Lieberfarb,
chairman of Lieberfarb & Associates and an American Film Institute
board member. "As the first widely available high definition format to
market, HD DVD will help satisfy the ever-growing consumer appetite
for great movies with mind-blowing extras. Between Warner Home Video,
Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment and Universal Pictures, they are
responsible for more than half of the major feature films and
television programs ever developed and their movies make up more than
fifty percent of the American Film Institute's top 100 films of all
time."

Retail Support

Retail outlets, including Best Buy, Crutchfield, Sears and Tweeter,
plan to carry HD DVD players and movies beginning in March.

"High definition televisions have been extremely popular on
Amazon.com, so we know our customers are eager to start enjoying more
high definition programming," said Greg Hart, director of North
American Music, DVD, and Computer and Video Games for Amazon.com.
"With attractively priced players, numerous top-selling DVDs soon to
be available in high definition and widespread industry support, we
expect our customers to take advantage of the opportunity to start
building their HD DVD libraries today."

Additionally, CustomFlix, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amazon.com,
plans to provide an opportunity for small studios and filmmakers to
utilize disc-on-demand technology to offer packaged high definition
content much earlier, faster and more efficiently than may otherwise
be possible with traditional replication methods.

Texas Instruments, which is leading the industry in maximum-HD 1080p
resolution DLP HDTV technology as the number one selling 1080p
television at retail, also announced strong support for HD DVD as
well.

Accelerating Digital Convergence

As the first high-definition format to reach the mass market, HD DVD
will provide consumers with stunning picture and sound quality, taking
full advantage of high-definition televisions and home theater
systems. The entertainment experience extends well beyond today's
DVDs, allowing new and innovative ways to view movies and access bonus
content. The format will also give consumers the opportunity to
securely transfer high definition content for storage on their PC's
hard disk drive, stream over a home network or even synchronize to a
portable media player.

Enthusiasm for HD DVD was echoed at the press conference by prominent
leaders in the IT industry. Microsoft reaffirmed that it will build
the infrastructure to support HD DVD into the upcoming Windows Vista
operating system coming later this year and HP was welcomed as the
newest member of the HD DVD Promotion Group. Toshiba also demonstrated
its AV notebook PCs, featuring slim-type HD DVD ROM drives, while NEC,
a leading Japanese PC manufacturer, offered a strong commitment to
enhancing the momentum for next-generation PCs with HD DVD drives.

About HD DVD

The DVD Forum develops and defines DVD formats. Its 240-strong
membership brings together leaders in movies and entertainment,
computing, consumer electronics and software. In November 2003, the
DVD Forum adopted the HD DVD format as the next-generation, post-DVD
standard for high capacity, high definition optical discs.

HD DVD discs are based on the same physical disc structure as current
DVDs, which enables manufacture of highly reliable hardware and discs
at a reasonable cost. The format is supported by cutting-edge blue
laser technology. It uses newly developed data processing techniques
and takes advantage of leading-edge advanced video compression
standards such as MPEG4-AVC and VC-1, as well as MPEG-2.

The HD DVD Promotion Group was created to help bring HD DVD products
and content into the marketplace and share its promotional activity
among members to encourage the broad acceptance of the platform on a
worldwide basis. Its 124-member list includes Toshiba Corporation,
Microsoft, Intel, HP, SANYO, NEC, Memory-Tech, Warner Home Video,
Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment and Universal Pictures.

For more information and a complete listing of HD DVD launch titles
please visit http://www.hddvdprg.com/press.

Questions about each company's plans may be individually addressed to
each company.