Microsoft has announced that the company will re-direct all of its TV resources toward a brand new, cloud-based entertainment platform for the current generation Xbox. As part of this change in strategy, the company also says that it sold off its IPTV business Mediaroom to Ericsson.
This also means that customers of AT&T's U-Verse alongside other Mediaroom set-top boxes will now be relying on Ericsson to provide future functionality, as well as software updates. Ericsson or Microsoft have not disclosed the terms of the sale as yet.
“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,” says the official company blog.
The company further says that this is a mission that Microsoft cannot achieve alone and wants to partner with the industry to bring about the next wave of improvement 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,” the blog adds.
With the new change in plans and policies, Ericsson will continue to invest in the Mediaroom platform, currently used by more than 20 million set-top boxes in 21 countries around the world.