As has been rumored, Microsoft is in talks with TV networks about using its Xbox Live service to deliver a bundle of TV channels to U.S. viewers, citing the 30 million Xbox Live users who already subscribe to Netflix Watch Instantly through the gaming platform.
But AdAge reports that there's a lot of internal debate going on in Redmond between execs who believe the gaming platform-the very profitable gaming platform-shouldn't be tinkered with, and those who see an Xbox Live video offering as the Holy Grail Microsoft has been chasing (unsuccessfully) for years.
"Microsoft Xbox is very interested in delivering great entertainment to consumers, entertainment in the broadest sense," Ross Honey, head of content acquisition for Xbox, told AdAge. "From our perspective, gaming and TV are going to coexist."
AT&T already offers U-verse TV customers the option of using an Xbox 360 in lieu of a DVR. The company also has been dabbling with TV outside the U.S., using the Xbox in Australia to pitch a low-cost cable package with pay-TV operator Foxtel. It's target? The young, male Xbox owners who already spend 40 percent of their time on the Xbox watching video. Microsoft also is working with Sky Broadcasting in the U.K. to enable co-viewing experiences through Xbox.
For more:
- see this AdAge article
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