HBO and New Line become Blu-ray exclusive

New Line Home Entertainment and HBO have both confirmed that their high-definition DVDs will be available exclusively on Blu-ray.

Both companies had been releasing content on both HD DVD and Blu-ray but have decided to follow Warner Bros. decision to become Blu-ray only.

The news is a further blow to HD DVD which now looks set to lose the format war which has now been raging for close to two years.

But the announcement will be welcomed by Sony chief executive, Howard Stringer, who claimed that the format battle was likely to end in a stalemate.

However, following Warner's decision to work with Blu-ray exclusively, he denied that the format was victorious saying: "I never put up banners that say 'mission accomplished.'"

Meanwhile, experts have claimed that the real victor could be the hard drive, with more and more high-definition movies available for download on the internet.