So tomorrow (6 December) the new Dashboard arrives at an unknown time. It promises to be innovative and… blah-blah-blah. Frankly, as a South African I don’t give a damn. They could keep the old one for all I care. Yes, the dashboard looks great – slick and contemporary – and is packed with features like ‘Beacons’ and, erm, stuff, but looking through the list of promised “TV channels” coming we will be getting… none.
So far, YouTube has been confirmed for 24 countries including South Africa (this was confirmed on Twitter by XboxZA today, but I really can’t be bothered to find it now) and that pretty much looks like it for the new countries to the “full” Xbox Live experience. There also appears to be Dailymotion coming to 32 countries – but once again, my indifference to it has halted my desire to investigate further.
So, as a South African supporter of Xbox Live (and I am) I just feel a little shafted. Aren’t we entitled to at least a comparable service for our money as the rest of the world? Where are some channels from Multichoice then? Heck, what about Top TV? Or SABC? E-Tv? Anything? And that’s to go along with the watered down selection of Arcade games and game add-ons. Maybe it’s time to call the new CPA into action…
But, it’s not all doom and gloom. Next year we’re getting a channel. Yes. Except it’s so un-South African (unless I missed the memo) it will be met with an indifference that will have the rest of the world claiming we’re “ungrateful”. We’re not. But MLB.TV? Major League Baseball? Really? Maybe I should just go back to using my console for its original intended use – a gaming platform. It’s definitely not going to be the multi-media platform for South African’s that Microsoft was hoping it would be…
The channel list as appearing on Xbox Live almost everywhere but near you in December and 2012:
6th December
- EPIX. United States
- ESPN on Xbox LIVE (ESPN). United States
- Hulu. Japan
- Hulu Plus. United States
- LOVEFiLM. United Kingdom
- Netflix. Canada, United States
- Premium Play by (MediaSet). Italy
- Sky Go (SkyDE). Austria, Germany
- Telefónica España – Movistar Imagenio. Spain
- TODAY (MSNBC). United States
Later in December
- 4 on Demand (C4). United Kingdom
- ABC iView (Australian Broadcasting Corp.). Australia
- AlloCiné. France (AlloCiné), Germany (Filmstarts), Spain (Sensacine), United Kingdom (Screenrush)
- Astral Media’s Disney XD (Astral Media). Canada
- blinkbox (Blinkbox). United Kingdom
- Crackle (Sony Pictures). Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, United States
- Dailymotion. Available in 32 countries globally
- Demand 5 (Five). United Kingdom
- DIGI+ (CANAL+). Spain
- GolTV (Mediapro). Spain
- iHeartRadio (Clear Channel). United States
- Mediathek/ZDF (ZDF). Germany
- MSN. Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, United Kingdom
- MSNBC.com. United States
- MUZU.TV. Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom
- ninemsn. Australia
- Real Sports (Maple Leaf Sports). Canada
- Rogers On Demand Online (Rogers Media). Canada
- SBS ON DEMAND. Australia
- TMZ (Warner Bros.). Canada, United States
- TVE (RTVE.es). Spain
- UFC on Xbox LIVE (UFC). Canada, United States
- Verizon FiOS TV. United States
- VEVO. Canada, Ireland, United Kingdom, United States
- Vudu (Wal-Mart). United States
- YouTube. Available in 24 countries globally
Early 2012
- Antena 3 (Antena 3 de Televisión). Spain
- BBC (BBC). United Kingdom
- CinemaNow (Best Buy). United States
- HBO GO (HBO). United States
- MLB.TV (MLB Advanced Media). Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Columbia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, United Kingdom, United States
- Telenovelas/Sports (Televisa). Brazil, Chile, Colombia, France, Italy, Mexico, Spain, United Kingdom
- Xfinity On Demand (Comcast). United States
In very much related news, Marc Whitten (CVP of Xbox LIVE) released a letter via Major Nelson about the new Xbox 360 experience:
Dear Xbox LIVE Members,
Today, we’re launching a new Xbox 360 experience that connects you with your favorite entertainment and games like never before and makes finding and enjoying entertainment as simple as it should be.
It’s a vision we shared at E3 and I’d like to thank you for all of your valuable feedback along this incredible ride and share a little more about what we have in store this holiday – from Beacons, cloud storage and Facebook sharing, to our latest entertainment offerings.
Building upon our great lineup of partners, we’ve teamed up with nearly 40 of the world’s leading TV & entertainment providers to bring you an array of live and on-demand TV, movies, games, sports and music experiences. The first wave of new partners rolls out today with experiences like EPIX and TODAY (MSNBC) in the US, LOVEFiLM in the UK, Sky Go in Germany, Premium Play by (MediaSet) in Italy and Telefonica España – Movistar Imagenio in Spain. And we’ll continue to roll out more entertainment content to Xbox LIVE in the coming months.
Beyond entertainment, you’ll find a number of features designed to make your Xbox experience more personal, social and effortless. The dashboard has an entirely new look and feel and a completely reimagined interface that makes your entertainment accessible through simple voice commands. Now, using voice search with Bing on Xbox, you can find and play the programming you want across multiple entertainment providers without having to search for a remote control. In the mood for ‘The Office?’ Just say “Xbox, Bing, ‘The Office,’” and Xbox will display all episodes available from various entertainment apps across the console.
We’re also bringing you Beacons and Facebook sharing, further integrating social into your Xbox experience. Before jumping into an episode of ‘The Office,’ you can activate a Beacon to let your friends know that you want to play, say, “Gears of War 3.” Then, sit back and relax with the Dunder Mifflin crew. The Beacon will let you know when a LIVE friend is available for a round of Horde in Gears. After the game, use Facebook Sharing to tout your achievements and showcase your in-game accomplishments through direct posts.
While we’re proud of our capability to connect you remotely to the global community of more than 35 million Xbox LIVE members, sometimes there’s nothing like being with your friends and family. And so we’ve added cloud storage so you can access game saves and your LIVE profile, including achievements, from your friends’ consoles as well.
Lastly, with the ever-expanding library of content available, we realize Xbox is enjoyed by all members of the family. Rest assured that our parental controls have improved in parallel with this new content. Parents can manage their child’s console activity, sharing on social networking sites as well as regulate access to games, movies, television, and music. Additionally, the update brings enhanced navigation to Xbox 360 Family Settings to better integrate with Kinect.
We strive to continually innovate and bring meaningful experiences to each and every member of the Xbox LIVE community. Currently, our community is already enjoying 2.1 billion hours of entertainment each month. We imagine this number will only continue to grow as you discover enhanced entertainment on Xbox this holiday that is instantly searchable, easily discoverable and enjoyable in extraordinary new ways. We hope you enjoy this new chapter in the evolution of Xbox and continue to push us to write the next.
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