Upon reading a BBC article published today, it seems that British Telecom's planned IPTV service is much less attractive than we had hoped. It turns out that the service does not support live TV or digital video recorder (DVR) functionality, but will be entirely on-demand. In other words, 360 owners will have access to BT's programming library, but won't be flipping channels or recording their favorite shows to watch later. Looking through the CES press release again, the only advantage we can see over the standard set-top box service (which offers live TV and DVR) is that gamers can stay connected to Xbox Live while watching on-demand programming through their 360s, allowing them to send messages and receive game invites among other things. We're not sure that alone justifies a 12-month contract. Of course, if you're interested in nabbing a BT set-top box and you just happen to have a 360 as well, it makes some sense.Perhaps the most interesting quote in the BBC article is from a BT spokesman: "The reason for streaming only on the Xbox is because currently the console does not have the capability for live TV ...." Now, we know the 360 is capable of live TV, as it was demonstrated at last year's CES. Furthermore, all IPTV is streaming, which makes the quote a bit odd. As far as we know, the only thing keeping the 360 from streaming IPTV is a firmware update. For now, we'll give BT the benefit of the doubt and assume that's what the spokesperson was referring to. We've got a call in to Microsoft for clarification.
Update: After a helpful comment and some digging, we've figured out the basis for British Telecom's claim that the 360 couldn't support live TV. It turns out that BT's live TV offerings are all made over the air. In other words, live TV is received via an antenna, something the 360 currently can't do. The on-demand services, on the other hand, are offered through IPTV. Still, as the first official IPTV offering on the 360, it seems a bit lacking. (Thanks for the insight, mike.)
[Thanks, Scotty Turbo]
Doug, from the Peoples Republic Of, visited Microsoft's IPTV booth at CES yesterday and got some more dirt on how the Xbox 360 IPTV will work. According to him, he found out that the IPTV service will be available over AT&T's 35Mbps lightspeed service which would allow for 2HD and 2SD channels to run simultaneously. Though the big problem here is that you'd have to replace your current ISP and cable provider to AT&T. And if you don't have access to the lightspeed service, then no IPTV for you! Secondly, you'll need a separate set top box that would work by itself or connected to a 360. So, the 360 still needs a separate set top box to use IPTV. Finally, if you have a home router it will need to be replaced by a special QOS (quality of service) router. Feeling sad yet?
The CES presentation of the Xbox 360 has just finished and we've received a better idea of where the 360 is headed. The rumored IPTV service coming to the 360 is true and will allow cable stations to offer IPTV content through the 360. This service will be up and running this year, holiday 2007. We'll also be seeing Windows Vista integrating the Xbox Live service allowing cross communication between a Vista PC and the 360. Friends lists, game invites, and friend status' all from your PC rolled out this summer. They also gave out a few numbers including 10.4 million Xbox 360s 
Coming from a recently vaporized post on Dean Takahashi's website (it was dated January 7), Microsoft is expected to announce that they have reached and surpassed their oft promised 
Nothing like a nice juicy rumor to keep you going through the weekend. This week's rumor is a doozy. Originating on an obscure blog called, ahem, Shsibae, the rumor goes a little something like-a this: Microsoft will soon be offering full-length high definition movies over the 360 Marketplace. Rentals would supposedly cost $4. Buying them outright is a possibility too, though the price is undetermined. The service would launch with over 1000+ hours of available video. For the uninitiated, 1000 hours is a lot of hours.
