The xBox Live Marketplace Just Got Very Interesting – Movies and Television Downloads (Actually On Your Television)

by Paul Colligan on November 7, 2006

My biggest beef with all this video over the Web stuff is that I can’t watch in on my television without putting a thousand dollar multimedia computer in my home entertainment system.

And if I’m not going to do it, the general public sure isn’t.

That’s why I’m so excited about the iTV project.

But it looks like, and yes, I mean it, Microsoft scooped Apple on this one.

We’ve got Television and Movies delivered over the Internet to an xBox near you.  Here’s the Microsoft Press release to get the legal details.

HD options too – which ought to make Scoble happy.

Engadget has some pictures – this thing looks very clean – perhaps cleaner than Tivo (who just raised rates)?

Yes, I had to bring this up, no word on a Video Podcast element embedded in this bad boy (yet).

Is this the iptv delivery system for gamers?  Could Microsoft get people to buy xBoxes who don’t want to play games – or is this overkill?

We’re suddenly getting lots of players in this space.

Paul likes that.

Technorati Tags: , , , ,

Unlike
  • Thanks for the insights, neighbor ;-)

    Paul
  • Jeremy
    I read about this last night and am excited to see it in action on the 22nd. MS just announced that they expect shipments of the Xbox 360 to top 12-15 million by the end of next year (currently, they've shipped about 6 million). The attach rate of Xbox Live to Xbox 360 is very high. Therefore, it seems, there will be a large audience for this programming. With the PS3's cost, delays, and lack of experience in the online world, it would seem if you want the central-hub experience for your living room, you'd go with the 360.

    Apple's iTV will be awesome, I'm sure, but it won't have gaming capabilities. Don't forget that Xbox Live Arcade (XLA), which has classic games like frogger, tetris, etc., has been a huge success (and an unexpected one). In other words, you don't need to be a "hard core gamer" to want to own a 360. Add in the HD-DVD add-on drive and it really looks like MS has a leg up in this race.
blog comments powered by Disqus

Previous post:

Next post: