Pay TV and LOVEFiLM heading to Xbox

Word on the virtual streets is Microsoft is planning to add pay TV channels and LOVEFiLM to the Xbox’s features, in a bid to create an all-in-one multimedia gaming powerhouse.

We caught wind of Microsoft’s plans from Bloomberg, which says the computing giant is slap bang in the middle of signing a number of deals with media companies such as Time Warner, NBC, Sony and LOVEFiLM to provide content. Better still, it is thought we could be treated to some of these new services as soon as next week. This is all completely off the record, of course, as Microsoft is keeping schtum about the whole thing. So, until we hear directly from the horse’s mouth, we’ll take this side serving of news with a pinch of salt.

Earlier this year at E3 Microsoft announced its Xbox Live TV effort, which has already kicked off here with the introduction of Sky Player. Steve Ballmer has also said Microsoft will add the Bing search engine and Kinect’s voice recognition software for browsing the web to the Xbox. With its rival, Sony, already way ahead with iPlayer, ITV Player, 4oD and LOVEFiLM, Microsoft has a bit of catching up to do. While we may not see these features this week, it’s looking very likely indeed.

Dan Grabham Editor-in-Chief

About

Dan is Editor-in-chief of Stuff, working across the magazine and the Stuff.tv website.  Our Editor-in-Chief is a regular at tech shows such as CES in Las Vegas, IFA in Berlin and Mobile World Congress in Barcelona as well as at other launches and events. He has been a CES Innovation Awards judge. Dan is completely platform agnostic and very at home using and writing about Windows, macOS, Android and iOS/iPadOS plus lots and lots of gadgets including audio and smart home gear, laptops and smartphones. He's also been interviewed and quoted in a wide variety of places including The Sun, BBC World Service, BBC News Online, BBC Radio 5Live, BBC Radio 4, Sky News Radio and BBC Local Radio.

Areas of expertise

Computing, mobile, audio, smart home