YEARS AGO, WHEN MICROSOFT launched the Xbox gaming platform, a long-time cable engineer I know told me something like "there’s your future set top box."
At the time, I had my doubts. How could a game console take the place of a digital decoder? But, as the Xbox gained more interactive capabilities, culminating in the fall 2006 launch of the Xbox Live Video Marketplace, where users (in the States, anyway) can purchase TV shows, games, movies and even high definition content – and talk live to their friends using their game’s headsets at the same time, it’s easy to banish those doubts.
For some, their Xbox will surely be their set top. Their media centre. And its next iteration will work seamlessly with Microsoft’s IPTV platform.
Microsoft’s media and entertainment group business development manager Sean Love is one of the executive download sessions at next week’s NextMedia, the event where leading edge digital content creators, aggregators, and solution-providers meet to develop business relationships. It’s set in Banff from June 8-10, just prior to The Banff World Television Festival (June 10 – 13, 2007).
Love chatted with Cartt.ca editor and publisher Greg O’Brien last week to talk about Xbox Live and how the traditional media needn’t fear the contraption – and instead should look to partner with the company. What follows is an edited transcript.
Greg O’Brien: What’s the primary message you’re taking to NextMedia and Banff with the various producers and broadcasters in the crowd?
SL: We just want to talk to them a little bit about the platform, the Xbox live video marketplace, which we launched in the U.S. in November, and take them through how we’re using this now to deliver video – and also get in a little bit to how we’re starting to blend a little bit – some of the straight up video properties with some of our gaming assets and how we’re working the Xbox community into that as well in some new and interesting ways.
GOB: So, how is Xbox Live being used in the States right now since the launch?
SL: Well, we really started off with, you know, selling TV shows on a sell through basis; download to own. And then where we’re renting movies as video on demand. But there are some things that the platform allows us to do that we’ve really just started to scratch the surface with, experimenting. One of those is selling short-form content on a download basis, which is something that is available a lot on a streaming basis to a PC.
But, we have a direct connection to the TV, a direct high def connection to a TV, so that’s something that distinguishes us. And we’ve started selling some short form content.
GOB: Now, when you say short form, like are you talking user generated content or short films or?
SL: No, we’re not talking about user generated content. What we started with is a series from Comedy Central called Tech Jansen which is actually a segment in the Colbert Report that we started selling. We started selling it for 40 points, which is about 50 cents U.S. It was incredibly popular and we really think that speaks to having the right content. This pricing model we have for TV which is $2 an episode, we want to experiment with that a little bit, and we think if we have the right kind of content, we can do some interesting things with that.
GOB: So, how many TV shows or movies or shorts do you have on offer right now?
SL: We have all together about 2,000 hours of content.
GOB: How much in HD?
SL: I don’t know exactly that number but it’s quite a bit. We get all of Lionsgate’s movies in HD, we get a significant amount of Warner Bros. movies in HD, we get CBS current series in HD. We have a pretty robust HD offering.
GOB: How much of it is on an exclusive basis?
SL: We’re not doing a lot of exclusive content right now, but its something that we’re looking at. When we have something that’s really unique and really exciting, we’ll do it on an exclusive basis. An example of that is we released the only South Park episode ever produced in HD – and that was because the creators of the show are big fans of the platform and big fans of Xbox and they wanted to experiment with doing an HD version of the show. They like the platform, so we had that available exclusively on Xbox.
GOB: Has the usage of the system by the users changed since you launched the video component of it? Do they play games less, do they play them more, do they chat less over it, do they chat more?
SL: I wouldn’t say that they chat more or less. I mean its definitely primarily a gaming platform, and there’s, let’s make no mistake about it, that’s primarily what it’s for: Games, games and games. But, the video service has been surprisingly popular… extremely popular. I think people are using the console more than they ever have because it can do so much more now than just gaming.
GOB: Have you released any numbers as to how many episodes have been sold or how many hours have been viewed or anything like that?
SL: No, we’re not releasing those yet.
GOB: Okay. What are your plans for Canada with our different copyright regime up here where you don’t offer any video content?
SL: Based on the success we’ve had in the States, you can imagine that we’re looking at opportunities outside the U.S., but I don’t have anything to announce yet.
GOB: That’s always the shortfall for these types of things up in Canada. You can’t get video off of iTunes for Canada, for example. you can’t get an Xbox live, you can’t even go to CBS.com and watch one of their shows online because its geo-blocked for Canada because someone else owns the rights. It still hasn’t been worked out.
SL: I know, and its really surprising to me why. (Canada) is such a great market for U.S. TV and films. I’m not sure why exactly that’s the case, but I can tell you we have all kinds of community forums for Xbox and the Canadians are extremely vocal (asking) why don’t we have it here.
GOB: I’ve been vocal myself with the broadcasters, too. I had a chat with one who put the blame on iTunes for not having any video available here. And I said, no, no, wait a minute, you’ve got all of your own content that you could start offering tomorrow if you wanted. Why aren’t you doing it? And there’s been no good answer yet.
Should broadcasters or cable operators fear Xbox Live? I’ve had a cable operator point at an Xbox and say, look, there’s your future set top box.
SL: No. I think they’re very different experiences. We think that we have a very compelling video story and actually, by the end of this year, we’re going to release an IP TV based version of Xbox where we’re going to be working very closely with our IP TV partners.
GOB: So, it’ll of plug and play with (Verizon’s) FiOS (IPTV fibre to the curb network) for example?
SL: Yes. But it’s going to be a lot more than that too. It’s going to be very integrated with the Xbox Live experience. For example, one of the features of Xbox Live is there’s a very robust communications feature set so that you can voice chat, you can text message, you can do all kinds of stuff. We’re going to build that in into the IP TV experience as well as Xbox Live marketplace, which is where you go to buy the downloadable content.
GOB: Hmm. You’ve got to get that marketplace opened up for Canada somehow.
SL: I’m glad to hear the encouragement.
GOB: Even though I’m a trade journalist, I’m also a consumer. So, I’ve got a bunch of little gadgets where I can’t use them to their maximum capabilities because I’m here up north of the border.
SL: Do you have an Xbox?
GOB: No. That’s one of the few thingsI don’t have. My son has a PS2 and hasn’t yet asked for an Xbox. That’s one of the few gadgets I don’t have.
SL: Would you buy one if we had a super robust video store?
GOB: Yep.
SL: Okay, you promised. You know, this is on the record.
GOB: That’s right. You need that copyright cleared content though for Canada.
SL: Okay.
