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Sky puts content on Xbox console

bBy Darren Waters/bbr /Technology editor, BBC News websitebr /ppimg src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44545000/jpg/_44545978_xbox226.jpg" align="left" width="226" height="170" alt="Xbox 360" border="0" vspace="4" hspace="4"/pp class="first"bBritish broadcaster Sky has struck a deal with Microsoft that will see live football, TV and film content brought to the Xbox 360./bpThe deal marks the Xbox's first move into live linear broadcast TV. /ppRival consoles, Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii, can access catch-up TV content via the BBC's iPlayer. /ppSky's channels will be available on the Xbox 360 from the autumn, but no specific line-up or pricing details have been given. /ppUsers of Microsoft's Xbox Live online service on the 360 in the UK and Ireland will be able to watch Sky's live sport, programmes, catch-up TV and on demand films, without the need for a satellite dish or set-top box, or to be an existing Sky customer. /ppbReduced cost/b/ppSky's commercial group director Stephen Nuttall hinted there could be deals for some current Sky subscribers. /pp/pp /quot;iIt's a compliment and alternative to the existing methods of experiencing Sky's contentquot;/ibr /bStephen Nuttall, Sky/bbr /br /pSky customers who have subscribed to premium content packages, or have multiple set-top boxes or one of the bigger broadband package could get content via their Xbox at a reduced cost. /ppNeil Thompson, head of Xbox for UK and Ireland, said: quot;The entertainment world is changing immensely, with consumers looking for choice, flexibility and convenience. /ppquot;They also want to experience community elements.quot; /ppThe line-up of channels and content available via the Xbox will be similar to the existing Sky Player service, available on PCs and Macs, said Mr Nuttall. /ppbVirtual personas/b/ppXbox Live users will also be able to watch Sky content together virtually, chatting over the broadband connection, and sending messages via their avatars, or virtual personas. /ppThe community viewing aspect will start with sport broadcasts, and could potentially roll out to other live TV content as well. /ppMr Nuttall said Sky on Xbox was an quot;extra convenience, a choice; it's a complement and alternative to the existing methods of experiencing Sky's contentquot;. /ppCurrently, users can get content via a satellite service, a PC service and a mobile service, either separately or in combination. /ppSky has 9.3 million subscribers in the UK, and the firm said quot;hundreds of thousands of peoplequot; are using its online Sky Player regularly. /ppMicrosoft would not say how many Xbox 360 users it had in the UK, nor how many Xbox Live subscribers. /ppThe video content from Sky will be streamed in standard definition, quot;DVD qualityquot; and will require at least a one megabit per second connection. /ppMr Thompson said the deal with Sky did not rule out the BBC's iPlayer ever appearing on the Xbox 360. /ppMr Nuttall said putting content on the 360 did not signal the end of the set-top box. /ppHe said: quot;It's about the expansion of choice. The Sky Plus HD box has got a lot of distinct features that distinguish it from any sort of competition, including the Xbox 360.quot;/phrpThis article is from the a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk"BBC News website/a. #169; British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites./pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/bbcnewstechnologyfullfeed?a=qVvH27J62RE:2QYzs5Jv1Tc:F7zBnMyn0Lo"img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/bbcnewstechnologyfullfeed?i=qVvH27J62RE:2QYzs5Jv1Tc:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/bbcnewstechnologyfullfeed?a=qVvH27J62RE:2QYzs5Jv1Tc:V_sGLiPBpWU"img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/bbcnewstechnologyfullfeed?i=qVvH27J62RE:2QYzs5Jv1Tc:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/bbcnewstechnologyfullfeed?a=qVvH27J62RE:2QYzs5Jv1Tc:yIl2AUoC8zA"img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/bbcnewstechnologyfullfeed?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/bbcnewstechnologyfullfeed/~4/qVvH27J62RE" height="1" width="1"/