Xbox Live! gets video on demand
As the US prepares for the launch of Sony’s Playstation 3 on November 17, Microsoft has unveiled plans to use Xbox Live! Marketplace to deliver television programs and movies to its US users from November 22nd.
This is clearly designed to compete with Sony’s heavy focus on the delivery of high definition video content using the PlayStation 3’s Blu-Ray drive, and is unsurprising considering that Microsoft has always downplayed the role of next generation optical storage in its console.
It also clears up the incongruity of releasing a console with such a heavy HD focus but no HD-DVD or Blu-Ray drive. While Sony’s focus is on distribution of content on plastic discs, Microsoft is betting on the future of digital distribution. It’s been pretty clear that Microsoft has been trying to get into the digital distribution game for many years; however its attempts so far have been underwhelming to say the least.
It’s been this inability to convince content providers of the benefits of digital distribution that spurred Intel on to create its Viiv logo program. It has also meant Microsoft has fallen behind competitors like Apple in the all important digital distribution stakes.
While the press release outlines what content will be available it doesn’t elaborate on pricing. What it does mention is that television shows will be available to own while movies will be available to rent.
This spawns numerous questions as to the ins and outs of downloads, and whether they can be transferred to PC or portable devices. Does a ‘purchase’ of a show mean ownership of the copy residing on the Xbox 360 hard drive, or will the Xbox Live account be somehow flagged to allow users to re-download content that they have paid for?
Microsoft did have two videos linked from its website, videos whose links seemed to suddenly disappear. They are still online though, and a general overview of the system can be found here as well as a montage of CBS content here.
We suspect these went AWOL because they give an indication of pricing, which as I mentioned before is not referenced elsewhere in the announcement. As an example, the video on how to use the service shows both HD and SD episodes of CSI: NY costing 240 MS points ($4) and the SD version of Batman Forever costing 340 MS points ($5.60) to rent.
Renting means that you have 14 days to watch the chosen movie, however once you start watching it you have 24 hours to finish before it disappears from your console.
It is an intriguing move by Microsoft and something that we will watch very closely as it approaches launch. With Zune and the Media Centre empowered Windows Vista both launching soon, we suspect that this is but the beachhead for a more serious and consistent distribution push by Microsoft across all its platforms.
