Microsoft to Launch Xbox 360 console Cable Service

When Microsoft released the latest update towards Xbox 360 elite gaming console抯 dashboard and internet-based gaming network, Xbox Live, latest research by, they launched a new partnership with all the ESPN Network . Subscribers towards Xbox Live Premium service Xbox Gold are now able to watch a version of ESPN 3 exclusive to the service, letting users watch clips of broadcast programming, archived sporting events and live streams of college football and basketball events. The service has become a 2010 mild success in its first month, garnering the maximum amount of criticism as praise for its content offerings which might be both ad free and unshackled by traditional cable providers. ESPN 3 on Xbox Live can be another test bed, the larval way of Microsoft抯 greater television ambitions. Networks and cable providers be forewarned: Microsoft gets in to the streaming television game.

As outlined by a Reuters report published yesterday afternoon, Microsoft is getting ready to offer a new subscription-based 搗irtual cable operator?from the Xbox 360 console as well as the Xbox Live service. Users are going to pay a fee every month to reach loads of channels and programming delivered via the Internet that's not unlike traditional cable or satellite service made available from the likes of Time Warner , Comcast or DISH Network. In lieu of compete directly with these agencies though, Microsoft will take a page from Google抯 Internet television strategy and partner with cable providers to authenticate the Xbox 360 system as a secondary cable box, not unlike the recently released Google TV set top boxes from Logitech.

Citing two sources acquainted with the talks, the Reuters report procedes say that Microsoft is well into negotiations with television content providers and networks to take their channels for the Xbox 360. Microsoft has enjoyed quite a few profitable partnerships with network and cable channels within the Xbox 360 ahead of the release of the newest ESPN 3 channel. Because the console launched in 2005, the Xbox 360 console has offered numerous video rentals and single-purchase downloads of programming from Viacom抯 channels like Comedy Central and MTV. That is in addition to the numerous broadcast tv from NBC Universal, ABC, Fox and CBS designed for rent and get via Microsoft抯 Zune store also is accessible through Xbox Go on the Xbox. An enthusiastic cable, as well as more devoted channels comparable to Xbox Live ESPN 3, will make the Xbox 360 system a significant competitor from the emerging streaming Internet television market currently occupied from the aforementioned Google and Apple Inc.

Of course which means that Microsoft will face many of the same hurdles those companies have in bringing television content to users via the Internet. Both Google and Apple are already met with reticence to get current television programming to streaming service for content providers. Broadcast and cable networks alike are leery of losing ad revenue by offering identical content through traditional cable service and Internet services. NBC, ABC, Fox, and CBS necessary blocked Google TV-enabled devices from accessing streaming episodes for their mutual official websites. Those same networks have grumbled in the affordable of TV episode rentals on Apple TV抯 iTunes store. As you move the Reuters report says that early talks with content providers have been productive for Microsoft, it抯 likely that any offerings from major TV companies will be limited in scope, not unlike the existing version of Xbox Live ESPN 3.

Though Microsoft has neither confirmed nor denied arsenic intoxication plans for the cable service on the Xbox, those plans would fit well using the company抯 business structure to the console mainly because it launched in 2005. Streaming Internet video has proven very profitable for the console. It had been one of the first home electronics away from PCs to offer the Netflix instant streaming service. That service抯 availability within the Xbox 360 elite has been instrumental in Netflix抯 transition into a predominantly streaming-based business since 2008. That said, the possibility of network and cable channels getting streaming outlets about the Xbox 360 elite may depend on the achievements of other available choices such as Hulu Plus subscriptions service. The ABC, NBC, and Fox-owned partnership recently launched its subscription service with a variety of platforms, like the Xbox 360 system competitor, the Sony Playstation 3. If Hulu Plus will be able to grow a substantial subscriber base around the console, it抯 more likely that that service can come on the Xbox 360 system as an alternative to devoted channels controlled by Microsoft.

Investors looking towards Microsoft抯 Xbox business would excel to be able to the prosperity of the ESPN 3 channel above the coming months, especially taking into consideration the flood of recent Xbox owners introduced through the Kinect motion controller. It抯 stated that any xbox 360 controller charger is a least 1 year away so support for the viability will likely be built through the final quarter of 2010 and initial two quarters of 2011. Regardless, though, these early hints will be more evidence that Internet television is going to be continue to be the dominant growing focus in home entertainment.