BT Xbox 360 Vision
Tuesday, January 8th, 2008Motorola / BT + V + X (Box) x HD = £££
BT have just announced a deal inked with computer monolith Microsoft, which will allow BT Vision customers to sync an Xbox 360 to the IPTV box and the Home Hub, effectively turning the games machine into a second BT Vision box – gamers will be able to view the BT Vision on-demand and Freeview content on another TV in the house.
BT have also said that they will be launching an HD platform next year, and have appointed mobile phones manufacturer Motorola, who according to BT Vision chief Dan Marks have “extensive experience in IPTV†and have a previous working relationship with Microsoft. When this platform is released, customers will be able to pay to download new titles from the Xbox Live Marketplace in shiny happy HD format.
Last September, we mentioned how Sony had announced the development of their HD-ready Play TV platform for the PS3, allowing viewers to record one programme on Freeview whilst watching another, using the PS3’s hard drive (40GB or 60GB depending on which one you bought) to record programmes to. The versions of the Xbox 360 on sale in the UK, Premium and Elite have 20GB and 120GB sized hard drives respectively.
The deal with BT is part of Microsoft’s plan to extend Xbox take-up throughout Europe, with similar deals being made with Deutsche Telekom in Germany, T-Online in France and Swisscom in Switzerland.
As the Xbox 360 is the second most popular ’seventh-gen’ console, this agreement is mutually beneficial for BT; “we are able to potentially expand our BT Vision customer base by tapping into the popularity of Xbox 360.”
