With the integration of Netflix and Hulu, many have wondered if Microsoft was looking to challenge TV cable and satellite. However, Interactive Entertainment Business CFO Dennis Durkin indicates that Microsoft would rather partner with these content provides than take them head on.
“You may be familiar with some of the work we re doing in the U.K. with BSkyB and Canal+ in France and we also have a partnership with Foxtel in Australia, said Durkin. So these are all pay-TV operators. And basically, we re partner friendly as it relates to their business model. We re not trying to compete with them. We re trying to enhance the services that they offer for their customers,”
“We also, in the U.S., with ESPN, we ve partnered to bring ESPN3 within our ecosystem, which is an announcement we had last year. Again, very partner friendly, he added. They have a business model where they go to market and they monetize that distribution via ISPs – so internet service providers pay them for that ESPN service and we authenticate inside of our business. So if you re a customer of an ISP that is participating with ESPN, then you get all of that content inside our ecosystem. So we re trying to be very partner friendly as it relates to bringing this content into our ecosystem.”
Source: IndustryGamers
