Nathan Rose vs. Jim Hill – The Wager

I could never figure out why Nathan Rose champions Blu-Ray like a rabid animal. I like Blu-Ray. I have a PS3 and own a number of Blu-Ray movies. I think they are good and was on board from the launch of the PS3 but I don’t turn into a poo flinging monkey if someone disagrees about Blu-Ray.

I thought this was odd so I did what I do…I looked into it.

During my research I discovered that back in 2005 a heated dispute took place between Nathan Rose and Jim Hill. The dispute was over the future of home entertainment. Nathan claimed that Blu-Ray was the future while Jim Hill claimed that digital copy was the future.

The two nearly came to blows before deciding to create a wager. If Blu-Ray became the industry standard, Jim would have to award Nathan ownership of Jim Hill Media. If digital copy became the standard Nathan would have to award Magical Mountain to Jim.

At first I thought who cares? Would anyone really want either? Then I looked into it. It turns out that that Magical Mountain actually owns Magic Mountain in California. Six Flags only has a lease for it. Jim Hill Media was originally called Chapel Hill Media and actual owns all of Chapel Hill North Carolina. In other words this is the mother of all wagers.

Both Nathan and Jim tried to get the upper hand. Using their unlimited contacts and astronomical resources they both caused massive shifts in the world of entertainment. Nathan single handedly crushed HD-DVD. It wasn’t Sony it was Nathan. After that he put the screws to DVD executives and forced them all to convert to Blu-Ray ASAP. If they didn’t he said he pull strings and the WDW Mafia would be paying a visit (see The DIS – WDW Mafia’s Legal Front).

Jim single handedly convinced Netflix, Apple, and Amazon to jump on the digital delivery bandwagon. He threatened them with removal of everything Disney if they didn’t. Yes…Jim Hill has those kinds of connections.

Jim and Nathan’s epic battle was witnessed by many Disney insiders. One in particular took notice and wanted to end the feud. The only problem is – how could you negate the wager? Only one person in the Disney Community has that kind of power. Yes I’m talking about Deb Wills (see How Does Deb Wills Do It?). Deb waved her wand and POOF! All high end Disney Blu-Rays come with Digital Copy.

Now Nathan and Jim are friends again thanks to Deb Wills.