Concerns surrounding the future of DVD are arising this week following
Microsoft’s E3 Business & Media Summit confirmation that its 120GB
Xbox 360 Elite videogames console will be hitting European shores on
August 24.
The Elite’s 120GB hard drive represents a massive storage jump from
the 20GB Premium Xbox 360 currently available throughout Europe, and is
to be the precursor to the arrival of Microsoft’s popular Video
Marketplace download service.
Both the 120GB Elite and Video Marketplace are already available to
Xbox 360 owners in the US, and Microsoft has now said it is immersed in
talks regarding the integration of the download service for European
audiences.
A Telegraph.co.uk article reports that the Video Marketplace would
allow users to download movie (and television) content both quickly and
cheaply, which could well have a detrimental effect on regular DVD
sales and rentals.
Redmond-based Microsoft has said that it’s currently talking with
leading movie suppliers such as Disney, Paramount, and Warner Bros. in
order to secure plenty of Video Marketplace content prior to the
service’s official European launch – which is expected before the close
of 2007. The American software behemoth is also communicating with
television broadcasters (including the BBC) to widen the service’s
scope to popular TV programming too.
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