Microsoft is said to be in talks with almost two dozen providers of music, sports, movies and TV shows in the US and Europe to bring more entertainment to the Xbox 360. There could even be an announcement as soon as next week on new services coming Xbox Live.
These new services would function much like the current ESPN service on Xbox Live. Customers must prove that they are existing customers to a cable company that supports ESPN3 in order for the ESPN channel to function on Xbox Live. Microsoft is supposedly in talks with Verizon, Comcast, HBO, Crackle, Bravo, Syfy and UK service Lovefilm. Sky TV is currently available to UK residents.
Microsoft continues to push to be a player in the post cable world (if that ever comes..) and cable providers push to have their services on more and more devices in order to stop the defection rate. Hopefully all this talk will actually become something by the time the new Xbox Live Dashboard comes online later this fall.
Source: Bloomberg
