Woolworths has announced that beginning in March it will no longer sell HD DVD movies in its stores and will instead be Blu-ray exclusive.

The company cited Christmas sales as a main reason for the drop, stating that Blu-ray outsold HD-DVD by 10 to 1 over the period. The company also called the Sony PlayStation 3 the major factor for Blu-ray's emerging market dominance.

"Sales figures clearly show that the market is moving towards one format of high definition DVD," commented DVD buyer for Woolworths Steven McGunigel.

"The main reason is the success of Sony's PlayStation 3 machine. Because it plays Blu-ray discs, there are over three quarters of a million homes in the UK that can view the new high definition format."

"There is no where near that number of HD-DVD players around," added McGunigel.

The retailer did add however that HD DVD movies would still be available through its website.