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Microsoft inks deal for Family Guy downloads

Under a new deal between 20th Century Fox and Microsoft, the first two seasons of animated hit "Family Guy" will be available as downloads for the Xbox 360 from Microsoft's Xbox Live service starting on Monday.

Since Fox doesn't have any kind of general agreement with Microsoft for their content, "Family Guy" will be the first product from the studio to be available on Xbox Live. It's something of a coup for the Redmond, Washington company since iTunes has yet to reach a deal to get the show.



Xbox 360 owners will be able to purchase each of the episodes from the first two seasons as well as the straight-to-DVD film "Family Guy Presents Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story" for 160 Microsoft points, or about $2, which is comparable with the pricing of TV episodes on iTunes and other VOD platforms.

Xbox Live is clearly a key part of Microsoft's strategy for making the Xbox 360 a contender in the console gaming market. While Sony is betting on the inclusion of a Blu-ray drive for entertainment possibillities, Xbox Live provides content online that comes from such companies as Warner Bros., Paramount, the Walt Disney Co., New Line, Lionsgate, Miramax, MTV, Turner Broadcasting and the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Source: Reuters

Written by: Rich Fiscus @ 31 Aug 2007 22:09

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• 7 comments

• akaangus

  Wow, because the first two seasons of that (very average IMO) show haven't already been played to death in syndication and on DVD...

  31.8.2007 23:11 #1

• DjDanio

  it's only the first two seasons, you can get the dvds for about £5 each from HMV, even cheaper on ebay.

  1.9.2007 03:06 #2

• Dela

  Come on guys, you are missing the point, this is just testing the water here. Every time there is a news story on AfterDawn about any company adding content from any provider to their stores online, or as we see here, on LIVE, 75% of comments are "whoopie... im so happy... NOT!!" or "Why would I pay for it when I can get it free anyway?" or of course "this stuff id already on DVD".
  
  The industry is still only new to this whole Internet-delivered video thing, so before the industry catches up with nhow people like us want our media delivered to us, there is still a lot of evolution left. That's why sometimes you see older seasons of TV shows popping up on services, because the provider is skeptical of the results, might be a waste of time if they are bad, might hurt DVD sales if they are good..... all these companies still have their training wheels on.
  
  Sure you can argue about DRM and closed systems etc. but at least acknowledge that even small things like this are a step in the right direction! You know I always see people mentioning that it wopiuld be "cheaper to buy the boxset", now this is true of shows like 24, lost, prison break etc. NBut shows like family guy, you don't have to watch them in order, so if you only want a video or two, you might want to just get those episodes that you would like to have instead of buying the whole box.

  1.9.2007 03:58 #3

• Leningrad

  Quote:Xbox 360 owners will be able to purchase each of the episodes from the first two seasons as well as the straight-to-DVD film "Family Guy Presents Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story" for 160 Microsoft points, or about $2, which is comparable with the pricing of TV episodes on iTunes and other VOD platforms. Heck thats cheap

  1.9.2007 16:11 #4

• Unfocused

  Quote:That's why sometimes you see older seasons of TV shows popping up on services, because the provider is skeptical of the resultsStill wouldn't hurt them to do a trial run on the latest and greatest...
  
  How does that saying go? If your going to aim for something, aim high? Soemthing like that.
  
  Not to knock the effort, at least they are trying something.

  1.9.2007 19:35 #5

• albino92

  I don't know this doesn't seem bad at all it is a hilarious show and although you can watch it anywhere it is very cheap to download and as the first season is a little weak i love the second one and the movie is funny as well, i think this will get a lot of downloads for people who don't own any form of the show.

  1.9.2007 20:16 #6

• borhan9

  Trying to beat a dead horse is not going to make any progress.

  10.9.2007 00:13 #7