Microsoft has been a frenemy to the pay-TV industry for a long, long time. So now that the company is taking over TV interfaces with its Xbox One HDMI pass-through feature, I thought it worth looking back over the company’s (sometimes torturous) history with pay-TV providers. (Note: Nothing on Media Center PCs or WebTV here. That’s another story.)
Timeline
2003 – Microsoft TV Foundation Edition Launches in June at the National Show
Microsoft’s software platform for the cable industry includes an interactive program guide that operators can use to create “On-Demand Storefronts”
2004 – Microsoft and Comcast do a deal to bring the Foundation software to subscribers in Washington state
Microsoft gets its big break in the cable industry
2006 – AT&T launches U-verse IPTV service with Microsoft inside
U-verse is the first major IPTV service in the U.S., and it runs on Microsoft code
2006 – Microsoft announces the Xbox Video Marketplace
New video store cements the Xbox as a Trojan Horse in the living room
2007 – Comcast gives up on Microsoft’s Foundation software
Microsoft’s short (and not sweet) dance with Comcast ends
2007 – Microsoft announces the Mediaroom IPTV platform in June
Just after the Comcast announcement, Microsoft unveils its newly-branded IPTV middleware
2009 – Microsoft streams live BSkyB TV on the Xbox
Microsoft gets live TV on the Xbox… in the U.K.
2010 – AT&T introduces the option to use Xbox as a U-verse set-top
After nearly four years of promises, Microsoft makes good on set-top plans
2011 – Microsoft announces deals to bring Comcast and Verizon apps to the Xbox
Comcast and Verizon decide IP is the way to go in retail
2013 – Microsoft sells off Mediaroom to Ericsson
The Mediaroom era ends as Microsoft turns full attention to the Xbox
2013 – Microsoft introduces the Xbox One
Microsoft takes control of the TV interface with an HDMI pass-through feature that allows it to overlay its own UI on a cable video feed (So much for the CableCARD?)