Sony is the first major studio to announce their pricing model for the upcoming release of their Blu-ray Disc titles. BD films fresh from the theaters should hit the shelves for $23.45 while catalog titles will drop to $17.95, wholesale. That's a 15-20% premium over what new-release DVDs cost back in '97 but, according to Sony, it's meant to "accommodate the sell-through and rental markets" which DVDs initially avoided since the world was beset by video rentals at the time. But you won't see a Sony MSRP slapped to the back of their BDs. Instead they will allow retailers to set their own margin of profit (like Amazon who lists catalog BDs for $22.49) allowing for the invisible hand to sort it all out. Sony also plans to bundle in DVD and/or UMD formats (not for free) with some BD releases as a key component of their marketing strategy.