Microsoft sells Mediaroom, Xbox to be their TV strategy going forward

Today, Microsoft and Ericsson announced a definitive agreement for Ericsson to acquire Mediaroom, the number one IPTV platform deployed by TV operators around the world. This acquisition is mutually beneficial and strategically aligned for both parties. Ericsson will continue to invest in the growth and success of Mediaroom to the benefit of customers, employees, and the industry. It allows Microsoft to commit 100 percent of its focus on consumer TV strategy with Xbox.

We are proud of the world-class engineering and business achievements within Mediaroom. They have a rich history of driving innovation in IPTV. As early pioneers, they built the infrastructure to stream video on limited bandwidth, and today they enable multiscreen entertainment experiences for pay TV subscribers. Mediaroom has contributed to the evolution of TV and powers 22 million set-top boxes today in 11 million subscriber households.

With the sale of Mediaroom, Microsoft is dedicating all TV resources to Xbox in a continued mission to make it the premium entertainment service that delivers all the games and entertainment consumers want – whether on a console, phone, PC or tablet. And with 76 million Xbox 360 consoles around the world with 46 million Xbox LIVE members, it is a mission that gets us out of bed in the morning.

It is not a mission that we can achieve alone. We want to partner with the industry to deliver the next wave of innovation in games and consumer entertainment. We will partner with content creators, studios, labels, networks, content aggregators, operators and distributors to make this happen. We believe the future of home entertainment is one where TV becomes more simple, tailored and intelligent. We believe the best is yet to come for this industry.

Our vision and energy for the future of entertainment is more focused than ever. Stay tuned.

http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_blog/archive/2013/04/08/mediaroom-and-our-tv-journey.aspx

I really don't know if this strategy is going to work or not.

No way it will, too many other options for those that dont care about games. Many others have tried.

I had read a report that this might be happening a few days ago. 

It's interesting for a number of reasons:

1)  A number of Microsoft's TV partners including AT&T Uverse, use MediaRoom for their Xbox 360 capabilities.  What does this mean for those services?

2)  That being said, this frees Microsoft from the yoke of non-competition with TV provider partners.

3)  Hostorically Microsoft has partnered with Motorola as the software provider for their cable set-top boxes.  Now a competitor or Motorola's, Ericcson will become a partner with them.  Presumably. 

4)  Microsoft recently received a patent for a cable set top box, so it'll be interesting if those went with the sale of MediaRoom.   

Agree!

This quote is very important:

"Microsoft is dedicating all TV resources to Xbox in a continued mission to make it the premium entertainment service that delivers all the games and entertainment consumers want"

Ericson? SONY Ericson?

So did Sony buy this?

The next X-Box is a cable box?

no, ericsson bought it.

Sony bought Ericcson's interest in Sony Ericcson.  So, there is no Sony Ericcson anymore, there is just Sony an Ericcson. 

even if there would be still a sony ericsson it would have nothing to do with ericsson.  that's as if you would say ericsson bought gaikai.