Microsoft on Monday announced content partnerships that will transform the Xbox 360 into an on-demand IPTV device.
The software giant inked deals with CBS, MTV Networks, Paramount Pictures, Turner Broadcasting System, Ultimate Fighting Championship, and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. An initial lineup of over 1,000 hours of TV shows and movies will be available to U.S.-based Xbox 360 gamers by the end of 2006.
This makes the Xbox 360 the first gaming console to offer standard- and high-definition TV shows and movies via digital distribution over the Internet. However, Sony may be breathing down Microsoft's neck in the race to control back-of-the-TV inputs on HDTV sets.
Gamers can purchase TV shows and rent movies via download from the Xbox Live network, Microsoft's online platform for distributing high-definition content. The initial lineup of TV shows and feature films includes "CSI," "Survivor" and "Star Trek" from CBS; "South Park" from Comedy Central; "The Real World" from MTV; and "The Matrix," "Superman Returns" and "Batman Forever" from Warner Bros. The latter company, in particular, has aggressively pursued this distribution strategy.
An HDTV Battle
For all the talk about Blu-ray and HD-DVD Microsoft's announcement demonstrates that there is another HDTV war quietly brewing on the gaming front.
"IPTV on-demand is an important battle right now for Sony and Microsoft because sometimes there are only a few inputs on a high-definition TV," Doherty explained. "The game system that gets to that input tends to stay there. Xbox is trying to get ahead of the PS3 so that Sony finds those inputs blocked."
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