This year's E3 Expo is just around the corner, but Microsoft's getting the ball rolling a little early and has announced today a partnership with BSkyB that will see Sky's online TV service be made to UK Xbox 360 owners in the autumn.
Sky's online TV service, known as Sky Player, broadcasts a range of live pay TV channels in addition to a library of on-demand content. Although already available to PC or Mac users, Sky hopes that extending the service to millions of users of Microsoft's Xbox Live service will make its programming more accessible.
Xbox 360 users won't require a satellite dish, or indeed a Sky contract. Live TV - including Sky Sports - will be made available on a pay-per-view basis, or via a subscription. Specific details regarding pricing and programming are yet to be announced, but the line-up of channels is expected to be similar to the existing Sky Player service.
Neil Thompson, Microsoft's head of Xbox UK and Ireland, had this to say:
Our customers have told us that they want the opportunity to use their consoles as a way to access TV and once again Xbox has pulled off an entertainment first with amazing content and rich interactive experience. The combination of Sky’s leadership in content creation and aggregation and our own in creating a constantly evolving new generation of rich 360 entertainment experiences means we are one step closer to our goal of offering Xbox owners the best entertainment experiences out there, whether it’s movies, music, games, interactive experiences or high quality TV.
In the knowledge of rival consoles being able to access BBC's iPlayer, Thompson adds that the agreement with Sky won't rule out the possibility of iPlayer also becoming available to Xbox 360 owners.
Unlike the Xbox Live Marketplace - soon to become Zune Marketplace - Sky's video content won't initially be available in high definition, and its high-def programming will remain exclusive to its Sky+HD set-top box.
Expect to hear more on Sky's partnership with Microsoft at next week's E3.
