Microsoft (NYSE:MSFT) is speaking to the BBC and others to attract content for the launch of its Xbox Video Marketplace in Europe. Launched in the U.S. in November, the feature allows users of the games console to download TV shows and movies, through partnerships including Paramount Pictures, CBS, TBS, MTV Networks, UFC, NBC, and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. Ross Honey, senior director at Microsoft’s content and partner strategy group, told the Sunday Times it had “spoken to the BBC and several other European media companies”; “we are working diligently on multiple fronts to make it happen ... the BBC is a great content provider.”

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The BBC said in June it wanted its iPlayer online catch-up service to run across more than just home computers (indeed, much of the same programming is already available on Virgin Media’s on-demand gateway) and is keen to employ a multi-platform delivery approach - offering shows for download via games machines would tick that box but on-box DRM would have to be sufficient to let free-to-download programmes expire after 30 days. For Microsoft, which has previously aimed to launch Video Marketplace in Europe before the end of the year, it would come ahead of the launch of Sony’s PlayTV, a digital TV tuner and DVR for the rival Playstation 3 console.