Microsoft still intends to launch its previously announced live television service for its Xbox 360 console by the end of 2011. CNN reports that during Microsoft's investors day earlier this week, company CEO Steve Ballmer demoed part of the the Xbox TV service to financial analysts. The demo showed how an Xbox 360 user with the Kinect controller and the upcoming Xbox 360 version of the Bing search engine could simply speak to search for a particular TV show and then the show would then appear on screen.
Microsoft officially announced plans to offer live television on the console back in June during its E3 2011 press conference. However, the company is still keeping a lot of the service's details to themselves for now. That includes things like what TV shows and networks would be a part of Xbox TV and any pricing details. Ballmer did say this week that Microsoft is working with "dozens or hundreds of additional video content suppliers" for the live TV service.
Some analysts believe that Xbox TV will allow current cable TV and satellite users to access their programs on the Xbox 360. David Wertheimer, executive director of the Entertainment Technology Center at the University of Southern California, believes that kind of a feature, combined with the console's Kinect and Bing search support, could give those customers a better TV experience. He says, "That's the opportunity here for Microsoft -- can they work with the content owners to innovate on top of the content itself and provide a higher-value experience to consumers? If they can, this could be big and meaningful."
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