Microsoft to launch huge variety of live & on demand TV services on Xbox 360

[neiltc13]

REDMOND, Wash. — Oct. 5, 2011 — A new era in television begins this holiday where your entertainment becomes instantly searchable, easily discoverable and enjoyable in extraordinary new ways from a single device — Xbox 360. Today, Microsoft Corp. announced plans to roll out the next generation of TV entertainment on Xbox LIVE, the online entertainment service for Xbox 360. Nearly 40 world-leading TV and entertainment providers, including Bravo, Comcast, HBO GO, Verizon FiOS and Syfy in the U.S.; BBC in the U.K., Telefónica in Spain; Rogers On Demand in Canada; Televisa in Mexico; ZDF in Germany; and MediaSet in Italy, will begin rolling out entertainment services to the console this holiday, in more than 20 countries.

“Today’s announcement is a major step toward realizing our vision to bring you all the entertainment you want, shared with the people you care about, made easy,” said Don Mattrick, president of the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft. “Combining the world’s leading TV and entertainment providers with the power of Kinect for Xbox 360* and the intelligence of Bing voice search will make TV and entertainment more personal, social and effortless.”

“We are continually evolving the television experience to bring Xfinity TV subscribers more personalized ways to search, find and watch the content they love,” said Sam Schwartz, president of Comcast Converged Products. “Our recently launched next-generation Xfinity TV platform is enabling us to bring Xfinity On Demand to a gaming console for the first time, and Kinect’s voice and gesture controls will offer our customers an innovative way to discover and enjoy Xfinity On Demand’s huge library of top shows and movies.”

Xbox 360 brings all your entertainment, friends and family together in one place. Now, easily switch from playing your favorite game with a friend out of state or even across the world to watching your favorite TV show with your family members on the same couch, all through Xbox LIVE. Ready to mix things up? Effortlessly switch from games to music to live TV and more, simply by telling your Xbox what you want to experience.

“Microsoft and Verizon share a common vision to transform the ways people enjoy and interact with the entertainment they want — what Verizon calls the borderless lifestyle,” said Eric Bruno, vice president of consumer and mass business product management for Verizon. “FiOS TV on the Xbox 360 is an excellent example of how we’re working with market leaders to erase old technology borders to expand the FiOS TV experience and taking advantage of unique new features including voice- and gesture-control of live TV entertainment via Kinect. This holiday, Verizon will bring a selection of popular live TV channels to Xbox 360 and will be a leader in delivering live, multichannel streaming HD TV, integrated with Kinect, via Xbox.”

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2011/oct11/10-05XBTVPR.mspx

Looks like a great offering. Awesome to see such a variety of sources while Apple still plods along selling music videos and TV shows by the episode.

 

[TheSideshow]

Im interested to see how it works for different Cable TV providers and no cable provider at all. Could be cool.

 

[spacepower7]

Im interested to see how it works for different Cable TV providers and no cable provider at all. Could be cool.

Doesn't work without a cable provider from what I have read. Also, most of this requires the highest tiers of service. You will be require to have $80 to $120 a month service. The Xfinity app on the iPad is pretty useless without a $80 a month plan.

 

[neiltc13]

Doesn't work without a cable provider from what I have read. Also, most of this requires the highest tiers of service. You will be require to have $80 to $120 a month service. The Xfinity app on the iPad is pretty useless without a $80 a month plan.

The BBC, Channel 4 and Channel 5 ones will work with no subscription whatsoever. Likely the last 7 days of content available for free streaming.

 

[spacepower7]

The BBC, Channel 4 and Channel 5 ones will work with no subscription whatsoever. Likely the last 7 days of content available for free streaming.

I should have specified in the U.S.

HBOgo only works if you pay for HBO thru the service providers.

Xfinity and VerizonFIOS and ATT U-Verse require expensive monthly plans.

Hulu and Netflix require their own monthly fees.

Basically, this is similar to all the existing apps for the iPad, except on an Xbox connected to TV, and a little less portable.

Can the user search through all the "channels"/apps from one unified search box, or does the user have to search each service separately? If its the latter, than it's like having 10 different media apps on the iPad, not very convienent.
If there is unified search, that would be great though and kudos to MS.

 

[Omne666]

Yawn.

And the Zune lives on!!!