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Uncategorized Wednesday, October 5th 2011 at 1:59 pm

Verizon Partnering With Microsoft, Bringing Live TV to the Xbox 360

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It’s official, Verizon is teaming up with Microsoft to provide live TV on the Xbox, a first for the console. The rumors were accurate. It appears that the service will work like this: Verizon FIOS TV and Internet subscribers who have Xbox Live will be able to download a Verizon app designed specifically for the Xbox. Yes, it has Kinect functionality. The app will provide users with as-yet-ill-defined “collection” of content in HD right through their Xboxes.

This is a first for the Xbox — and consoles as a whole — and represents a step in a new direction for consoles that are trying harder and harder to market themselves as out-and-out media devices and not just expensive, shiny boxes for man-children with disposable incomes who like to get yelled at by unbelievably foul-mouthed 10-year-olds while playing Modern Warfare. Not that that depiction is right, but it does exist to some extent. Having TV content will make the Xbox more like a DVR (or VCR for you neanderthals) and hopefully open up its market. Of course, this all leads to one big, looming question. Why?

I feel like I may be missing something here, but other than “breaking ground” by getting TV on a console, the benefits of this app are few if any. Okay, so you can use Kinect to watch TV. That might be moderately amusing, but let’s take a closer look at the details. In order to watch a “collection” of media — a collection that definitely won’t include everything — on your Xbox, you already have to have FIOS TV and Internet access; You can already watch TV on your TV.

The ability to watch TV on your Xbox seems like nothing more than the opportunity to route your content through another box for no particular reason all while also limiting the available content. Also, Xbox Live ain’t free, so running it through your Xbox is technically more expensive than just watching it directly on the TV that your Xbox is attached to. Maybe this feature could be used to get live TV on a TV that is connected to an Xbox but not the FIOS TV proper, but aren’t there other ways around that? I understand that this is a completely new arena for console content, but how it will provide anything besides Kinect support to users is beyond me. Hopefully this is just a first step in a direction that will lead to mind-blowingly awesome functionality, but I sure can’t tell where this is going.

(via The Next Web)

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  • http://Geekosystem.com Eric Limer

    Seriously though, is there ANY practical application for this? Anybody have any ideas?

  • http://twitter.com/Mesoian Mesoian

    Word on the grapevine is that, similarly to ESPN3, you don’t need to have the cable service to get these stations, only have internet provided by these companies. So theoretically if you have comcast internet, you’d have access to the channels provided by comcast (So…SYFY, anyone else who wants to have a separate channel…I guess). The bigger question comes into to play when you think about HBOGo, which is a partner but, if it emulates how it works now, will require a subscription to HBO, which you can’t have without a cable subscription.

    We need a lot more information, and I’d guess we’re going to get it during Microsoft’s next big presser, which has to be before Christmas right? so they can get the new OS onto everyone’s console?

  • http://twitter.com/Chizwick Charlie

    With a Fios subscription but no cable box to spare for my room, I could certainly get some use out of it. Sure, I could watch TV in my living room, but why would I want to leave the comforts of my own room to -share- a TV (undoubtedly ending in a feud over what to watch)?

    Limited practicality, sure. But I’m happy to be part of that 1% of users who might use it (exaggerating, of course).

  • http://twitter.com/Chizwick Charlie

    With a Fios subscription but no cable box to spare for my room, I could certainly get some use out of it. Sure, I could watch TV in my living room, but why would I want to leave the comforts of my own room to -share- a TV (undoubtedly ending in a feud over what to watch)?

    Limited practicality, sure. But I’m happy to be part of that 1% of users who might use it (exaggerating, of course).

  • http://Geekosystem.com Eric Limer

    Yeah, now THAT would be interesting. All the coverage I saw said FIOS TV and Internet, but the details are pretty spare at the moment. It’ll be interesting to see how this develops, I like the idea of more media friendly consoles to provide a better excuse for buying them.

  • johnych

    This isnt a first! BSkyB have been running a live and on demand TV service on x-box in the UK for for the last 2 years – with Kinnect functionality!