Xbox 360 getting IPTV?

Is Microsoft getting ready to add IPTV to the Xbox 360? Details are a little hazy at the moment, but apparently Dean Takahashi over at San Jose Mercury News posted and then quickly pulled a post from his blog about how Robbie Bach and Bill Gates were going to announce that the Xbox 360 will soon be able to double as a set-top box for Internet Protocol Television. Sounds like he may have accidentally included some info that wasn't supposed to go up until after the big Gatesnote on Sunday evening. So what would make this IPTV service different from the video download service they just introduced? Well, to be honest we don't know, since we won't know proper details until they're announced (presumably all will be revealed tomorrow), but IPTV generally refers to live and on-demand video that's streamed, rather than downloaded, over an internet connection. Typically that means an experience that's more like traditional TV, with the ability to flip channels and tune into live broadcasts and all that. We do know that Microsoft has been working on IPTV stuff for years now (they already offer a set-top box-based system that's being test marketed by a handful of telcos around the world), so it wouldn't be a shock to see them try and leverage the Xbox 360 as a platform. Right now we're just curious to see how they'd pull it off from a technical standpoint and what networks and/or programming they might be offering.

[WT @ Jan 6th 2007 4:54PM]

Will it be a big competition for telcos?

Br,
Telecominsight.net

[SickNic @ Jan 6th 2007 5:21PM]

I've been waiting for a change in the way we watch TV. When are we going to get an iTunes type service that lets us subscribe to certain shows only, or maybe buy a channel. I hate paying 80 bucks for 120 channels when i only watch 20 of them regularly.

I really hope this is where MS is going with their IPTV. I wouldn't hesitate to dump comcast for a service that lets me buy what I want, and not get stuck with some large overpriced package deal.

[JP @ Jan 6th 2007 5:28PM]

Gatesnote? Please

[Phil @ Jan 6th 2007 5:42PM]

The Xbox 360 needs a slot-loading disc drive like that of The Nintendo Wii and The Sony PS3.

[Russell @ Jan 6th 2007 5:43PM]

I welcome the day I can subscribe to "channels" on a monthly/yearly or even daily fee basis.

Instead of paying $100/month for 100's of crappy channels I'd much prefer paying $60-80 a month for say 20 of my favorite channels and them getting enough money from this to skip out on excessive advertising...

[KineticOnline @ Jan 6th 2007 5:52PM]

Well technically i dont think it would be that difficult. The 360 has the power and xbox live has the security.
The main question everyone outside the US is having is will it be another US only thing, because if it is people are going to get annoyed really quickly. ok so the video downloads are going to be rolled out eventully but the xbox live is a global community, features should never be region specific

[Taylor Finley @ Jan 6th 2007 5:55PM]

To everyone advocating ala carte programming: consider its effect on the wider market. If everyone signs up for their twenty favorite channels, less popular channels will have a smaller installed viewer base and therefore smaller ad revenues. Those networks will then either have to charge more per installed user per month, or go away. As a net result, if you like any less-popular networks, you'll probably end up paying the same or more than you do now, and your selection will dwindle as smaller networks can no longer compete with larger networks.

[CaptCaveman @ Jan 6th 2007 6:27PM]

@ Taylor Finley

You have a point. However I watch about 5 shows. However my cable bill is about 70 bucks a month. There are channels that I get that I don't even know about. However I have to pay for them because I have to take the package or not subscribe.
If it wasn't for the girlfriend I would choose the latter and just grab a torrent of the shows or pull them from the newsgroups. Then the networks loose out even more because I don't see the advertisements that they put in the show.

I'm sure that if me and the GF break up I will be dumping cable and simply waiting until the season comes out on DVD (hopefully HD-DVD or BD). Sure I will be a 6 months to a year behind everyone else but I won't have to shell out $840 a year for less then 100 hours of entertainment.

[marty @ Jan 6th 2007 7:30PM]

Question Question!!!!!!!!!

Is this IPTV thingy only gonna be for the new 360's, or can I, the kid who got his 360 for xmas still use the IPTV service?

[Patricio @ Jan 6th 2007 9:25PM]

Should work with all xbox 360's (that have a hard drive). But what I want to know is: will Microsoft partner up with an internet provider like AT&T and ship xbox 360's to homes instead of cable boxes for IPTV? If that is the case then you can add another 10 million for their user base in no time. Sony is way out of their league this time. But more importantly this maybe the answer to the monopoly cable companies have in different areas.

[Mike @ Jan 6th 2007 9:41PM]

This was on Digg:
http://digg.com/tech_news/Watch_TV_Through_Xbox_Live

[garci @ Jan 7th 2007 2:04AM]

MSTV Already has a pc-based client available, although its only usable when the platform is under "development" and stops working once its live (commercial), but since its just a VM to what runs on the STBs themselves, it would not be hard to port it to the Xbox360. Plus, it could profit from Xbox's secure media handling features, so some very nice things could be seen on it. STB rental/sale is not usually a big business for IPTV telcos, so having your customers actually buy the STB for you would seem like a great idea...

Hackers... start your engines!

[Shteevie @ Jan 7th 2007 1:17PM]

The idea we keep hearing from users trying to excite everyone about IPTV always comes back to "I wish I could pay only for the channels or shows I like, and not have to pay for the rest."

This idea will likely never come to see fruition in the way these people envision it. Here's why:

Most cable networks are owned by larger companies that own several stations. For example, MTV owns Nikelodeon, VH1, Comedy Central, Spike TV, and BET, not to mention the nearly dozen MTV or VH1 spin-off channels. In order to carry any of those channels at a reasonable rate, MTV insists that cable networks carry all of them. This gives MTV a larger audience to demand higher prices for advertising with, and it gives the cable network 'more options' to offer the viewer, making the cable deal seem more cost-effective.

The truth is, if you wanted only Comedy Central, you'd probably end up paying the same amount for it as you do for all 20 stations owned by MTV and carried by your cable provider.

Alternatives already exist. TiVo, Netflix, and your friendly neighborhood bitTorrent all offer cheaper ways to watch these shows (with varying degrees of user effort, legality, and cost).

If you only watch 100 hours of TV a year (about what 5 shows worth of episodes offer in a year), you are better off buying them for a buck or two an episode on iTunes or renting them on DVD anyways. Even buying the boxed sets brings the cost down to about 2-3 dollars an episode.

you aren't paying for all of the content cable offers you - you are paying for :access: to that content. It's the difference between paying for concert tickets or the CD of the live performance.

Personally, I don't see how IPTV can ever be as convenient as flipping channels. Loading and buffering times, MSoft's inability to design a navigable menu, and the reliance on "Comcastic" internet service (shudder) are all major obstacles here. Then again, I never flip channels myself these days, as my TiVo keeps me covered in that department.

[jdavid.net @ Jan 8th 2007 7:51PM]

with a proper multicast network, it would be just like flipping channels