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Byline: -- Staff and Wire Services

Studios still split on DVD format

Several movie studios announced plans Thursday to release a handful of films on high-definition DVD in Europe, continuing the slow rollout of the new format worldwide.

The Blu-ray Disc Association, which supports one of the two rival and incompatible high-def DVD formats, also announced that Sun Microsystems Inc., the creator of the Java technology, would join its board. Blu-ray uses Java to create interactive features.

Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros., Sony Corp.'s Sony Pictures Entertainment and News Corp.'s 20th Century Fox said they would release several current and older titles this fall to coincide with the availability of Blu-ray players in various European countries. Sony's game console, Playstation3, will also include a Blu-ray DVD drive when it goes on sale later this year.

Earlier this week, more than a dozen Hollywood studios announced that some 75 movie titles, including ``The Da Vinci Code'' and ``Chicken Little,'' will go on sale in Japan later this year using the Blu-ray format.

Studios have been slowly releasing titles in the United States since the first Toshiba HD DVD player went on sale in March and the Samsung Blu-ray player followed in July. Fox said Thursday it would release its first titles in November as well as distribute MGM titles such as ``Rocky.''

Blu-ray is backed by a consortium led by Sony Corp. It is fighting for dominance with HD DVD, a format backed by Toshiba Corp.

Universal Studios is the only studio backing HD DVD exclusively. Fox and Sony have said they intend to back only the Blu-ray format.

IRS grants refund on long-distance

WASHINGTON -- Consumers can claim a standard $30 to $60 refund next year for a tax on long-distance telephone calls that the government declared invalid, the Internal Revenue Service announced Thursday.

Telephone customers had been paying the 3 percent federal excise tax on local and long-distance service. The government last month stopped collecting the tax on long-distance calls after businesses repeatedly fought the tax in court and won.

Next year, consumers can use their 2006 tax returns to claim a refund on long-distance telephone taxes paid since March 2003.

The standard refund starts at $30 and increases by $10 for each additional exemption claimed on a tax return, up to $60. A married couple with two dependent children, for example, could claim a $60 refund.

Golden West sale to Wachovia OK'd

OAKLAND -- Golden West Financial Corp. shareholders approved the company's sale to Wachovia Corp. on Thursday, moving a step closer to ending the 43-year reign of the savings and loan's folksy co-chief executives, Herb and Marion Sandler -- the only married couple running a Fortune 500 business.

Their quaint odyssey began in 1963 when Herb and Marion moved from New York to buy a two-branch thrift in the San Francisco Bay area for $4 million and vowed to maintain a personal touch even as Golden West's main franchise -- World Savings -- grew into an industry powerhouse.

That homespun feel remained evident Thursday as a couple of dozen shareholders gathered in a small room at Golden West's Oakland headquarters to snack on cookies and listen to the Sandlers address them for a final time.

H&R Block posts $131 million loss

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- H&R Block Inc. on Thursday reported a first-quarter loss of $131.4 million and sliced 20 cents off its earnings guidance for the current fiscal year, citing trouble in its mortgage business.

The loss amounted to 41 cents per share for the three months ended July 31, compared with a loss of $28 million, or 8 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier.

The Kansas City-based company said revenue in the first quarter fell to $540.8 million from $615 million in the same period a year ago.

Thursday's report came one week after Block -- which is best known for its tax preparation business -- announced it was setting aside $102.1 million to cover possible losses from having to buy back mortgages in its Option One Mortgage Corp.