Xbox To Get Live TV and Massive VOD Update

CNETNate writes "It's a global first for Microsoft, and massive news for Xbox owners. Redmond and the largest pay TV service in the UK — Sky, owned in part by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp — has tied a deal that brings simulcast TV, sports, entertainment shows, pay-per-view movies and back catalogue television to the Xbox 360. It's an entirely streamed service, offering no download-to-own content, and partly rivals the BBC iPlayer, which is available on UK PlayStation consoles and the Nintendo Wii. The service will go live later in the year at no cost to existing subscribers, and screenshots show it fits in seamlessly with the Xbox Live interface."

Re:Availability?

[jools33]

Sky currently only operate in the UK - you can't buy SKY tv overseas - unless you have a UK based bank account - so I wonder if this means sky are becoming more global - or if this really is just content for the UK market only...and will Sony respond by cutting a deal with Viacom?

Re:Availability?

[BlackstarSolar]

From the article "Millions of Xbox 360 owners in Britain and Ireland" Pretty sure this means it's just us in the UK. Bare in mind that the US only has had access to netflix for quite a while now. Personally I'm more interested in the pricing of this service, the post says "no cost to existing subscribers" but I can't find any evidence of this anywhere. As an existing subscriber I think it should be free but I doubt it will go that way.

Re:Availability?

[Anonymous Coward]

"Millions of Xbox 360 owners in Britain and Ireland" Pretty sure this means it's just us in the UK

A bit of news for ya buddy... Ireland became independant in 1922!

Re:Availability?

[tychver]

Sky is just one of many brand names for News Corporation's broadcasting services. New Zealand has Sky, Germany has Premiere and Australia Foxtel.

Re:Price..?

[Anonymous Coward]

Price guide for SkyPlayer, which the service will be based upon:

http://corporate.sky.com/documents/pdf/press_releases/SkyPlayerTV [sky.com]

If you want sport (particularly football) you'd need the £26 package I guess