Sony probably could. I mean they do have mulit-media features too.

Does Sony or Nintendo NEED to have anything to counter a cable box? I highly doubt real gamers care about it.

I don't see how it will help Microsoft. Cable boxes are already obsolete and are on the way out with the few people who still have them. This would have been a good idea for PS2 or the original Xbox, but not in this day. Maybe in the US they are still big, but I don't see how this will be a positive for Microsoft, especially if they want a worldwide audience.

Nintendo should ditch Tvii. Netflix app is fine. So reason to slow down OS with useless Tvii

Nintendo isn't even known for that.

I've never paid for TV before.Sure my parents did and it was available on my college campus, but I don't really care about TV.

They don't need to counter anything, and this focus on TV is going to be MS downfall in gaming.

Who wants a cable box? Not I. A decent browser is all I want to see for internet use.

This.

More and more people are ditching their cable boxes and cable altogether with things like Hulu, Amazon Video and Netflix being cheaper combined than a monthly cable bill. Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Microsoft already have some sort of deal with Comcast already? I could easily see them continuing that partnership......but Comcast seems to garner a lot of hate from their customers for one reason or another.

Partnering with one cable company would be a mistake for Microsoft, especially if they want to make that a big feature. Europe (jus the UK?) probably wouldn't get it because of weird television laws I believe (same reason they don't get TVii on the Wii U). 

Nintendo's solution is just to allow you to control the tv with the gamepad. You can even do that in Europe, so it's not like a major function of the system is rendered useless. I'm not sure if they will allow you to control the cable box in the future, but if they do (regardless of provider) that would be an even more excellent counter than direct control of the TV.

From what I understand, you would still have to have a cable box to utilize the "HDMI IN" port on the console and use the 720 as a pass-through......that just seems excessive to me. Why not just keep the setup as it is, directly plugged into the TV? Sure you wouldn't have to change inputs, but it's not like you would be gaming and watching TV at the same time anyway on the 720. $300 plus a subscription and the need for a cable box (and maybe internet connection, but to require it for that would be dumb. To require it at all would be dumb) tends to make the mass consumer go......eh. The Wii U is $300 without a subscription and it hasn't set the world on fire. I don't think MS will have anything as groundbreaking as WiiSports for the Kinect, even with the upgrades. They seem to be banking hard on the media hub aspect.

funny I thought this was MS's big trump card that they were going to pull.  I don't have a cable box as I have a website I go to for all my needs but I thought I was in the minority.  What I don't get about a media hub box is that most bluray players and even TVs themselves have apps in them from the get go.  Not to mention that the current gen systems can already do the most popular apps like Netflix, Hulu, Crackle, MLB, NHL, NFL, ESPN, etc. so why would you need to upgrade?  Also also just because Sony didn't put an emphasis on it doesn't mean they won't have multimedia.  That stuff can be added without changing the hardware so MS would have to work out exclusivity contracts for it to have any effect since I'm sure Sony would just add the features as soon as they knew MS had them.

^^ This. My thoughts exactly