It’s been talked about for a while now that Verizon and Comcast would be making some of their entertainment content available on the Xbox 360. That series of updates has started with the first rollout of a new UI for console. However, the bigger updates which bring on board the larger entertainment providers will not be happening until later in December.
In his article “Microsoft Takes First Step Toward Future of TV and Entertainment on Xbox 360” Paul Thurrott writes about the changes being rolled out to the Xbox 360.
- The Xbox 360 is getting a new version of its UI, called the Dashboard, as it does virtually every year.
- Deeper integration with the Kinect sensor’s motion and voice command capabilities
- Tighter integration with Microsoft’s Bing search technology.
Entertainment content from the largest providers Comcast and Verizon will start coming later in December. It’s not clear yet exactly which content will be available and it also varies by United States region.
What we think at NextGen Digital Home:
The split of entertainment content from traditional cable TV providers continues. However, in this case it’s not really changing providers but method of distribution – through your Xbox 360 instead of your cable providers set top box. It’s not clear yet whether you need to be a subscriber of a plan from Verizon or Comcast but it would seem highly unlikely they would just give this entertainment content away for free.
The Xbox 360 user will still need a reliable broadband connection to watch this content. Chances are pretty good this will come from the local cable provider also so it doesn’t appear cutting the cable will be completely possible in this scenario.
