Foxtel has announced its Foxtel Play service is coming to the Xbox One so it looks good at the EB Games Expo this weekend, but the service won’t go live yet for “months”.
Microsoft’s Xbox One is set to get access to the Foxtel Play service including access to Foxtel’s “Live and Anytime channels” in a deal formalised between the two companies just before this weekend’s annual EB Games Expo at Sydney Olympic Park in what its being described as a “massive entertainment boost”.
The deal will allow Xbox One owners to take advantage of the console’s impressive entertainment features allowing spilt screen access to content and games and voice and Kinect control of the Xbox One on-screen interface.
Although a Foxtel Play subscription definitely is not free, the Foxtel Play app will be a free download from the Xbox Market for those with a registered Xbox Live account, with the disappointing news that this will only occur “once the service goes live in the coming months”.
No reason was given for the months-long delay for a service that you’d imagine could be switched on immediately as it surely already is in private testing. Perhaps it is licensing issues, perhaps it is little green men from Mars, but we don’t know why as neither Foxtel nor Microsoft gave any explanations, leading us to coin the term “Foxtel Play on Xbox None”.
Foxtel’s Sales and Marketing man, Ed Smith, said: “Foxtel and Xbox are synonymous with brilliant entertainment. Our shared history of filling living rooms with funny, adventurous, nail-biting and immersive experiences is what we live for and our partnership to bring Foxtel Play to Xbox 360 has been an unmeasured success for our customers. We’re thrilled to announce plans to add Foxtel Play to Xbox One and take that success even further.”
Microsoft Australia’s Xbox man, Jeremy Hinton, said, “With Xbox One, our aim is to deliver an all-in-one solution that couples industry leading games with best-in class film and TV entertainment experiences. This latest milestone in our already game-changing relationship puts the latest and greatest movies and TV shows into the hands of our fans, and adds to the ever growing line-up of Australian and international content available to all Xbox One owners.”
Rubbing Xbox One owners noses into it, the Foxtel Play press release says the “planned arrival” of Foxtel Play on Xbox One “adds to the growing number of ways people can enjoy Foxtel Play, which already includes Xbox 360, eligible LG and Samsung Smart TVs, selected Samsung BluRay and home theatre systems, PS3/ PS4 and PC and Mac computers.”
Foxtel Play allows customers to select packages featuring live channels including E!, 13th Street, Style, BBC First, Lifestyle Food, Lifestyle Home, Crime + Investigation, FOX SPORTS 1, 2 and 3, Speed, Fuel TV, ESPN, Eurosport, Foxtel Movie channels, showcase, FOX8, Arena, Lifestyle, History, Discovery, A&E, National Geographic, FX, SoHo, MTV, Universal Channel, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon and Disney Channel and hundreds of catch up video on-demand titles.
