Report: Microsoft in talks with Comcast, Verizon for 'Live TV' service, Samsung for TV integration [update]
In August, Microsoft product manager David Dennis told Joystiq, "We're on track to deliver what we promised at E3 and that's to bring Live TV to Xbox this year." The only catch: What we don't know about Microsoft's upcoming "Live TV" service could fill an olympic-sized swimming pool. Digiday, the self-proclaimed "authority on digital media, marketing and advertising," claims to have heard from "multiple sources" that indicate a pending deal between Microsoft and the subscription TV titans at Comcast and Verizon. While ATT's U-verse service is currently available to Xbox owners, it represents a small percentage of the overall "cable TV" market in North America.
Digiday also reports that Microsoft is working the TV angle from the hardware side as well, and is "actively looking to partner with TV manufacturers, including Samsung" to build "some sort of Window Live gaming hub" into their televisions. With a "Holiday 2011" launch date, and a beta beginning "next month," we expect to hear a whole lot more about Microsoft's Live TV ambitions shortly. Until then, we've reached out to the various stakeholders mentioned for comment.
Update: Microsoft has issued a statement: "We have no comment beyond the statement already provided in the article: As we announced at E3, we are committed to bringing TV entertainment to Xbox around the world through partnerships with industry leading operator and content partners. We look forward to sharing more partner news in the near future, but we have nothing to announce at this time."
