There are many companies behind the Blu-ray effort, and this has paid off in the form of quick advances in manufacturing processes.

“There are a lot of companies trying to stake out a position in various aspects of BD-ROM manufacturing,” said Kazuhiro Tsuga, executive officer of Matsushita Electric. “As a result, we are seeing multitudes of improvements in processes and technology, as well as the effects of economies of scale that make replication extremely cost effective.”

An interesting fact of note is that Fox is keeping a close eye on Blu-ray. Fox hasn’t officially announced support for either Blu-ray (even though it’s a member of the Blu-ray Disc Association) or HD-DVD, so its decision is an important one.

“Fox is pleased to see the increasing number of technology companies and materials vendors committing to Blu-ray implementation, which is reducing costs to promising levels through technological breakthroughs and innovation,” said Danny Kaye, SVP Technology and Research Strategy at Twentieth Century Fox. “We look forward to continued technological progress along with developments in content protection.”

Link: Yahoo! Finance - Blu-ray Disc Ready for Cost Effective Manufacturing
Link: The Inquirer - Blu-ray disks ready for mass production