@ CES: Microsoft's Bach: Xbox Live Subs Up 70 Percent; 3 Million Added In Last Q Of '08
This story was written by Staci D. Kramer.
It's Robbie Bach's turn at the mike as the Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) keynote turns to content. Among the highlights:
New content: Xbox Live will launch its own channel, Primetime, with a real-time game show called "1 vs100"all live. A sort of virtual "Who Wants to be Millionaire?" without money. "It's all about the mob ..." They're also adding a game developers channel and shipping a new product called Kodu for creating games that can be shared on Xbox Live, now being demoed onstage by a kid who is beyond adept.
Netflix: Xbox Live added Netflix (NSDQ: NFLX) streaming late last year. ":Very eaxsy way for people to get HD content"over 12,000 movies and episodes.
Xbox Live: Xbox Live grew more than 70 percent last year and now has more than 17 million subscribers, with three million added in he last quarter of 2008. Back claims XBL accounts for 75 percent of all music downloads across platforms.
Media Center: Bach says Media Center has over 10 million unique users a month, averaging about 90 minutes a session.
Zune: No mention of that pesky leap year bug. But Zune doubled Social use to more than 2 million.
IPTV: The pace of IPTV is accelerating. Media Room is adding an Anytime feature that will literally let viewers go backwards to watch favorite shows.
By Staci D. Kramer