Microsoft has lined up 40 TV and entertainment providers to support the Xbox Live TV service, including Bravo, Comcast, HBO GO, Verizon FiOS and Syfy in the U.S.; BBC in the U.K., Telefónica in Spain; Rogers On Demand in Canada; Televisa in Mexico; ZDF in Germany; and MediaSet in Italy. The partners will begin rolling out entertainment services to the console this holiday season, in more than 20 countries, according to Microsoft.This isn’t a “cut your cable” announcement, from what I’m hearing/reading. It’s more like Xbox becomes your streaming -content adapter for your TV (as the Seattle Times describes it).
Microsoft timed the announcement to happen at the TVNext 2011 conference in San Jose, Calif. The new Xbox Live TV offering is key for Microsoft, given that there’s no new version of Windows out this year, so Xbox, Kinect and Windows Phone are likely to be its lead-off products for the holiday selling season.
