Microsoft Pay TV Plans Official, Announces Completed Deals Roster

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Well folks, it’s another big upheaval in the home theater market, as Microsoft has announced completed deals with almost 40–yes, forty–different content providers in a bid to bring television programming to your Xbox 360 console.

Microsoft put out a statement detailing their plans, including deals with a host of television services all around the world. Deals have been struck with Comcast, Bravo, HBO and Syfy in the United States, BBC in the United Kingdom, Rogers On Demand in Canada, MediaSet in Italy, and a host of others spanning fully 20 different countries. From Microsoft’s statement:

“Today’s announcement is a major step toward realizing our vision to bring you all the entertainment you want, shared with the people you care about, made easy.”

You’ll remember the Bing-related, Kinect-driven search functions we saw set to be offered back at E3, and this is the culmination of that presentation. The best part here is that it’s not just a show item any more, but rather, a system that’s just about ready for launch. The statement Microsoft released said it would roll out “this holiday”, so you can count on this being ready to go about the same time the snow starts flying in earnest (in the northern hemisphere, anyway) and you need something to do while riding the couch anyway.

What wasn’t said, though, is how much of these worldwide partners would be putting their content up for users in other countries. That’s a development I’d personally love to see, as I’m terribly fond of a lot of BBC programming, including Top Gear and Doctor Who. And of course, I don’t doubt that other countries would enjoy a shot of HBO themselves. So we’ll have to keep an eye out to see how this goes, but it’s looking pretty good for the home theater crowd in the months to come.

With a variety of home theater options out there, what’s going to be driving yours? Microsoft? Dish Network? A Netflix / Qwikster combo? A cable cutting venture, perhaps? Either way, we want to hear from you, so hit the comments section and tell us what you think!