The sprawling consortium of technology and media companies assembled to promote the HD DVD format of next-generation, high-definition discs could be close to collapse after a spate of defections to the rival Blu-ray Disc consortium.

As many as 20 companies that are members of the HD DVD Promotion Group could be preparing to remove their names from the alliance’s 130-strong membership list, The Times has learnt.

The defections could, one Tokyo-based analyst said, represent the final nails in the coffin of Toshiba’s HD DVD standard after a bitterly fought “format war”.

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