NEW YORK (Reuters) - Online video rental company Netflix Inc said on Monday it would exclusively stock Blu-ray high-definition DVDs after a decision by some the world's biggest movie studios in favor of the Sony Corp developed format.

Netflix has stocked DVDs using both Blu-ray and the competing HD DVD format developed by Toshiba Corp since they first came on the market in early 2006.

Four out of six major Hollywood studios have recently decided to publish high-definition DVDs only using Blu-ray.

Netflix said that with such a clear signal from the industry, it will only buy Blu-ray discs going forward and will phase out stock of HD DVD by about the end of the year.

(Reporting by Michele Gershberg, editing by Dave Zimmerman)
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Photo:
Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix Inc., a online DVD-rental service, holds several DVD's as he poses at the Netflix offices in Beverly Hills, California December 8, 2005. Online video rental company Netflix Inc said on Monday it would exclusively stock Blu-ray high-definition DVDs after a decision by some the world's biggest movie studios in favor of the Sony Corp developed format. REUTERS/Fred Prouser