Xbox 360 To Offer Hi-Def TV Shows Via Live [Update]
by Coola 11/6/2006
Xbox 360 Teams With CBS, MTV Networks, Paramount Pictures, Turner Broadcasting, UFC and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment to Digitally Deliver TV Shows and Movies to Gamers.
Xbox 360 will become first gaming console to offer downloads of over 1,000 hours of TV shows such as “CSI,” “Robot Chicken” and “South Park,” and movies such as “V for Vendetta” and “Nacho Libre.”
[Update] Check out this video courtesy of GameVideos.com, showing the upcoming update in action:
Microsoft Corp. today announced agreements with CBS, MTV Networks, Paramount Pictures, Turner Broadcasting System Inc. (TBS Inc.), Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment to bring an initial lineup of over 1,000 hours of hit TV shows and movies to Xbox 360 gamers in the U.S. by the end of the year. Furthermore, Xbox 360 will be the first gaming console to bring standard and high-definition TV shows and movies via digital distribution over the Internet directly to the consumer.
Beginning Nov. 22, on its first anniversary, Xbox 360 will be the first gaming console in history to provide high-definition TV shows and movies directly to gamers in their living rooms. Xbox 360 gamers will have access to the full-length TV shows as downloads to own and movies to rent via download from the Xbox Live network, the worldwide leader in online distribution of high-definition gaming and entertainment content. This announcement also brings with it several additional “firsts”:
· For the first time, consumers will get an integrated gaming and entertainment experience on a gaming console that includes downloadable high-definition TV shows and movies. This new full-length content adds to the ever-expanding number of choices gamers have on their Xbox 360, whether they want to play games or play a movie on a disc or as a download in high definition or standard definition.
· For the first time CBS will deliver high-definition download-to-own TV shows including “CSI,” “Jericho,” “Numb3rs” and remastered “Star Trek” episodes; gamers can buy them and watch them repeatedly.
· For the first time on any platform, NASCAR.COM will deliver download-to-own condensed versions of select NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series races from “Race Rewind.”
· For the first time, the Ultimate Fighting Championship will make 50 of its most intense fights available for download as well as select episodes from the original season of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality series.
“This groundbreaking announcement is a win for everyone,” said Peter Moore, corporate vice president of the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft. “It connects our partners with one of the most coveted audiences in entertainment today, and provides even greater value to our Xbox Live community, allowing them to enjoy the games and entertainment they want, when they want it.”
The initial lineup of TV shows available for download to own and feature films available for download to rent will include a growing catalog of popular hits. Examples of content that will be available on the network by the end of year include the following:
· “Robot Chicken” and “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” from Adult Swim
· “CSI,” “Survivor” and “Star Trek” from CBS
· Emmy and Peabody award-winning “South Park” and “Chappelle’s Show” from COMEDY CENTRAL
· “The Real World” and “Pimp My Ride” from MTV
· “Avatar: The Last Airbender” and ”SpongeBob SquarePants” from Nickelodeon
· “Skyland” and “The Nicktoons Network Animation Festival” from Nicktoons Network
· “M:i:III,” “Nacho Libre” and “Jackass: The Movie” from Paramount Pictures
· “Carpocalypse” and “Raising the Roofs” from Spike TV
· “Race Rewind” provided by NASCAR.COM
· Select episodes of the original season of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality series and the “UFC: All Access” shows from the UFC
· “Breaking Bonaduce” and “Hogan Knows Best” from VH1
· “The Matrix,” “Superman Returns” and “Batman Forever” from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
Xbox 360 gamers can access Xbox Live Marketplace with a free Xbox Live Silver membership and a broadband connection. More information about the content available on Xbox Live Marketplace can be found at http://www.xbox.com/marketplaceentertainment
XBOX365 Says
UFC, oh hell yes! Now if we could just put CBS: The Unit on there, it'd be just golden!
this is going to be pretty sweet, hopefully this means a bigger HDD will become availbable before or shortly after November 22. Wish they were showing the 2nd Jackass besides the @!*%. But how can u go wrong with South Park, Robot Chicken, and Aqua Teen?!? This is gonna be pretty cool when it happens, but i guess we'll find out on the 22nd. Right now im looking forward to the 12th (aka Emergence Day) for all the GoW specials :)!
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Lanhoj
Heckler
Posted 11/6/2006
and the news comes a week before the PS3 launches ? ... NIIIIIIICE
this is gona be wiked tho, cant wait to download TV shows and movies...tho i will definately need a USB hard drive, but they're relatively cheap these days.
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chio
X365 Member
Posted 11/6/2006
This sounds all well and good, but I'll reserve judgement until I find out just how much it'll cost to download this stuff (hopefully the same or less than iTunes)
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Fuse LinE
X365 Member
Posted 11/7/2006
I have Tivo for this, not to mention other paid programming (Stars,HBO). The on demand aspect is interesting however, but it'll eat up memory on the 20gb.
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Powerslave
Heckler
Posted 11/7/2006
Akimbo has BEEN doing this, and AT&T just started their ads for it. Ole' bill is only behind by a few months.
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citizenerasedx
X365 Member
Posted 11/7/2006
It's still the first console to do this.
And the movies are rental-based. You have 14 hours after download to watch, and 24 hours after first viewing to watch it. (or it might be 24 hours worth of viewing, i dont know).
The TV episodes you can delete, and still be able to download them again if you want to rewatch them.
Funny thing? HD movies are going to be 4.7gb. Whats that? Oh yeah, DVD SIZE! HD-DVD and Blu-Ray are just gimmicks.
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drfred79
X365 Member
Posted 11/7/2006
I'm saying this everywhere in hopes it will change peoples minds about the rentals. They can easily allow us to own them and still make a profit. The reason they are not is to make more money off us (they say because of HDD issues but if you can redownload tv shows why not movies or release a larger hard drive). Since this is the first console to do this they will set the tempo on how beneficial it is to consumers. Don't buy any rentals. Wait for the market to mature when you can have a movie download for 9 dollars. They still make money since there is no shipping, marketing, disks, or packaging and we get a fair price.
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xboxizzdope
X365 Member
Posted 11/7/2006
These have to be streamed and not actual downloads you can save to the drive, for one because the tiny 20 gb hard drive is too small to hold hour long shows in HD, and two, even if the drive was larger I doubt the TV networks would allow their content to be saved on a hard drive that can easily be removed from the unit and transfered to other units.
So I'm assuming a new stream feature will be added to the 360, unless it was added in the recent update, I can't check because I sold my 360. I'm just a little curious who the rare and few people will be streaming HD content, unless you have a connection faster than 5gb it'll take too long to download.
I really think broadband in the states is still too far behind for digital distribution of HD content to become popular. Once we get some faster speeds then it'll be cool, but for crying out loud a lot of people are still on friggen dial up, let alone a fiber network which is what is needed for HD streaming
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Coola
X365 Member
Posted 11/8/2006
Originally Posted by: citizenerasedx
And the movies are rental-based. You have 14 hours after download to watch, and 24 hours after first viewing to watch it. (or it might be 24 hours worth of viewing, i dont know).
Just to clarify, its actually 14 Days* or 2 Weeks after download to watch.
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ThatOldGuy
X365 Member
Posted 11/8/2006
Finally! This is what I envisioned XBL providing! "Lost" in HD for those who won't give COMCAST another penny to upgrade to HD.
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slaytus
Heckler
Posted 11/10/2006
get ready to sit and wait for downloading
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moat123
X365 Member
Posted 11/21/2006
By the time the movie downloads One could drive to Blockbuster , watch the movie and take it back, oh wait thats why you get 14 days to watch it-Beacuse thats how long it will take. I have a DVR much like everyone else in the world and On demand, Its not all its cracked up to be. But I do think this is a great step for MS for leading the way
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Heckler
Posted 2/1/2008
Hi! I'm John Strass and i like your site! Thank you!
