- Saturday, 21 November 2009
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I think we are on the verge of a new era of partnership with government - Steve 'Understatement' Ballmer
Sky comes to Xbox
BRITISH XBOX owners are able to stream live Sky channels and a selection of video on demand straight to their console from today.
The application appears in the Video Marketplace section and you'll need an Xbox Live Gold subscription to access the service. If you're already a Sky satellite subscriber you can access all the content at no additional cost. There are several monthly subscription packages available, starting at £15 per month, for those who want to use only the Sky Player service.
As yet there is no pay-as-you-go option for those who might just want to watch the occasional movie, programme or sports match, but Sky seemed quite interested in the idea when we suggested it to them.
Xbox owners in the US have been able to stream Netflix content for several months now, but Sky Player offers live TV streaming as well as on-demand content. Currently 24 of Sky's live channels are available with more expected soon.
Microsoft and Sky have worked together to integrate the service quite closely into the console. As a result you can see which of your friends are watching a particular channel and up to eight people can watch a particular programme in a party mode, letting them talk over headsets and emote with their avatars. In party mode the feed can be viewed in a cinema style or as the usual full screen display.
In a bid to fight off increased pressure from popular web based TV services like the BBC's Iplayer, Sky is ramping up its IPTV push, with Sky Player also bundled into the Windows 7 Media Centre.
"The introduction of Sky Player on Xbox is an exciting development for both companies," said David Mercer, principal analyst of the digital consumer practice at Strategy Analytics.
"For Bskyb it offers further evidence that its future subscriber growth is not dependent on its traditional satellite set-top box strategy; and for Microsoft it is further confirmation that the Xbox is on its way to becoming not just a games console, but rather a complete home entertainment system."
To mark the launch, a special retail bundle pack is on offer including a one month Sky Player subscription, a media remote and a three month Live Gold membership subscription card for £29.99. µ
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Regardless of whether it is here today or tomorrow or next week. Isn't this the first reacharound tech move that skips the cable companies? Once Xbox is streaming live TV (like sports and news), why would anyone with Sky or Netflix pay for cable TV?
Is SKY coming to smartphones?
I want SKY on my phone!
Shit it's enough to make me pay the extra £7.50 Orange want for the data package option if I can watch SKY on my mobile phone. ;-)
Although wathcing freeview for FREE would suffice.
This is it folks, here we are seeing the cohesion of 3 massive technologies of the past century. TV, electronic gaming and The Internet (invented by Al Gore).
Looks like the sevice has been down since it was due to go live....
Bet someone is getting their backside kicked.
Nuff said, we've got plenty of bandwidth from what I hear, but the routers need to be fast enough to handle all the traffic.
First of all, it's not the first way to bypass a cable company. An aerial on your rooftop allows you to get TV (even some HD) for free.
Second, you either need to pay extra to Microsoft, or pay Sky, so it's no different than a cable company.
FYI, I get my TV on the internet, so I pay $20 per month for internet and TV combined. less than the cost of the XBox service.
I haven't a sky subscription for sky player, but checked the on demand pages and you can view tv programs (or 98p each), but no movies or sports events (sub only)