When the Xbox One was revealed to the masses on May 21, one of the things Microsoft focused on (much to the disappointment of many gamers) was the ability of the Xbox One to stream live tv, and do several other functions related to watching television at the same time, such as Skype video chats.
Microsoft has now announced to Gamespot that they have reached a deal with Time Warner Cable to stream many of the cable provider's television channels to the Xbox 360, possibly as a trial run for the Xbox One.
In order to access this service, users with have to own both an Xbox Live Gold membership, as well as a subscription to Time Warner Cable. Of course, it is unclear how, if somebody owns both of these things already, if there is any sort of advantage to stream live TV on the Xbox 360 if they already have a cable box that, you know, provides live TV anyway.
This service will only be available to customers in the United States. Time Warner is promising over 300 channels will be available on the Xbox 360, including AMC, BBC World News, Bravo, Cartoon Network, CNN, Comedy Central, Food Network, and HGTV.
This news paves the way for the two companies to work together to provide the same service for the Xbox One, which does not have a major television conglomerate attached to it quite yet. The Xbox One will have deals with several major sports leagues to broadcast live content to the Xbox One, but so far that appears to be the only deals in places for live television for the Xbox One so far. It is worth pointing out that the Xbox One will stream live TV differently from the Xbox 360, as the Xbox One will plug into the cable box and feed the live TV through the HDMI cable.
We will have to see how well the Xbox 360/Time Warner deal works out for the companies, and if it warrants a similar deal with the Xbox One. The next-gen Xbox One will be out sometime in November.
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