Microsoft has put TV entertainment centre stage for the Xbox One, on a par with motion captured dogs, rumble features in the trigger pad and other cool things.
Interactive entertainment chief Yusuf Mehdi made a big play of the seamless live switching of gaming, on-demand movies and live TV, but the question here is whether Xbox One will work with the likes of Sky TV, Virgin Media, Freeview and other UK digital TV platforms.
“There are great game consoles, and there are great things like Roku and Apple TV and Google TV that give you over the top experiences but nobody has put them all together,” Mehdi said, while using voice commands to switch between Comcast cable TV and Xfinity, Comcast’s on-demand equivalent of Sky Go.
Sky was quick to launch Sky Player (now Sky Go) onto the Xbox 360, and will presumably want to have this, along with Now TV, available on the Xbox One from launch.
“We enjoy a long track-record of innovating with Microsoft on the Xbox platform and will explore any future opportunities offered by Xbox One,” said Sky.
Virgin Media hasn’t yet pushed its TV Anywhere service onto the Xbox 360, and as for the Xbox One, it’s remaining tight-lipped.
The new console is an ideal target for the forthcoming BT Sport channels, and we’re waiting for a response from BT.
However TV services emerge on the Xbox One, they’re also sure to take advantage of the greatly-improved voice and gesture control provided by the built-in Kinect 2.0 sensor.
Update: A Virgin Media spokesperson has told us: “We’ve got a great relationship with Microsoft and we’re always looking at news ways to enhance our products and services such as Virgin TV Anywhere.”
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