Microsoft Xbox users get access to PBS shows

Ken Burns' films among titles that can be downloaded

By Danny King -- Video Business, 10/8/2008

OCT. 8 | Users of Microsoft Xbox 360's gaming network can now download some of PBS' TV series, marking the software giant's continued efforts to lure more people to its gaming platform.

Xbox Live users can download Ken Burns' Jazz and America series as well as PBS programs Wired Science and Scientific American Frontiers, PBS said in a statement this week. Xbox Live users have access to more than 8,500 hours of programming from 45 content producers, PBS said.

Microsoft, which battles Nintendo's Wii and Sony's PlayStation 3 for market share of the booming videogame market, continues to try to draw users to its Xbox games format by offering more programming on its network, while dropping hardware prices. The company, whose Xbox 360 U.S. unit sales in July were less than half that of Wii, last month cut prices of its three Xbox models by between $50 and $80.

"Non-fiction programming has performed very well on Xbox Live,” Ross Honey, general manager of Microsoft's media and entertainment group, said in a statement. "The addition of a premiere brand such as PBS will not only enhance our overall video offering but will strengthen a content category that our users demand."

For the quarter ended June 30, Microsoft's entertainment and devices division cut its operating loss by 85% from a year earlier to $188 million, as the unit's sales jumped 37% to $1.58 billion on higher Xbox sales, the company said in July. Microsoft reports fiscal first-quarter earnings later this month.