Disc format rivals Microsoft and Disney set aside differences for HD content on Xbox Live Marketplace.

At this week’s E3, Microsoft announced it will carry Disney movies in HD on Xbox 360’s Xbox Live service. The Disney movies will be made available on Xbox 360 online community as part of Xbox Live Marketplace’s expanding media features. Since announcing it would offer movies and shows on Xbox 360, Microsoft has been looking for willing participants to display HD content on its gaming machine’s Xbox Live Marketplace.

It should come as no surprise that any studio would sell content through Xbox Live Marketplace. It’s a viable business with millions of Xbox 360 owners the world over. But since Microsoft drew the line in the sand with HD DVD and Disney staked its place on the other side with Blu-ray, Disney selling movies through Live becomes an interesting move in brand loyalties. Xbox Live Marketplace is seen as just another avenue through which to sell movies in high definition. The same could be said of HD DVD, but there are those studios including Sony, Disney and Lionsgate that won’t.

Disney will display movies alongside Lionsgate Films, another Blu-ray devotee. The shifting alliances in this new disc format war make an interesting study. But apparently the format upon which a studio will sell discs has very little to do with which company it will use as the conduit through which to sell movies.