Microsoft offers TV, movie downloads for Xbox 360

According to CBC.ca, Microsoft has launched a digital video download service that lets owners of Xbox 360 buy television shows and rent feature-length movies through its online store. The service is available only in the United States for now. Television series being offered for download through Xbox Live Marketplace include CSI, remastered episodes of the original Star Trek and reality TV show The Ultimate Fighter. Films to be available by the end of the year include Superman Returns, M:I:III and The Matrix.

The move makes Microsoft the first console maker to offer such a service.

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., which launched its own network with its PlayStation 3 console on Nov. 17, only offers short video clips of movies and video games for download. Nintendo Co. Ltd. has no plans to offer video downloads for its Wii console, launched Nov. 19, a spokesman told CBC News Online.

Television series being offered for download through Xbox Live Marketplace include crime drama CSI, remastered episodes of the original Star Trek and reality TV show The Ultimate Fighter, which documents athletes’ training regimes for bouts of the Ultimate Fighting Championship mixed martial arts matches. The fights are also available for download.

Feature length films to be available by the end of the year include Superman Returns, M:I:III — the latest instalment in the Mission: Impossible franchise — and The Matrix.

Source: cbc.ca