Sony’s Blu-ray disc format, slated for roll-out in late 2005, might be delayed to early 2006. No firm reasons were given for the possible delay. Patent royalty structure for the format remains unconfirmed, though manufacturing of the disc is at an advanced pilot stage in Japan. Mike Fidler, senior vice president of Sony's Blu-ray Disc Group, stated, “We are still targeting late 2005, but it is dependent on completing a few major milestones in areas such as content protection and our current discussions regarding advanced compression codecs. We still believe that it should be reality in late ‘05/early ‘06.”
