Format 1080p | Streaming Yes | |
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Opened October 16, 2012; 4 years ago (2012-10-16) Platforms Web
Windows 8 and later
Windows Server 2012 and later (optional)
Xbox 360 and later
Windows Phone 8 and later Catalogue 400,000 films and TV shows Preview 1 minute (TV Shows, and Movies) available for free | ||
Movies & TV (Canada and the US), or Films & TV (UK, Australia, and New Zealand), previously Xbox Video and Zune Video, is a digital video service developed by Microsoft that offers full HD movies and TV shows available for rental or purchase in the Video Store. The service is available on Xbox 360, Xbox One, Windows 8 and later, and Windows Phone 8 and later. Movies & TV is also accessible on the web.
Zune Video Marketplace was released in 2006, and was replaced by Xbox Video on October 14, 2012. Renamed Movies & TV in 2015, the service is Microsoft's answer to and competes more directly with similar online video stores including PlayStation Video, iTunes Store, Google Play Movies & TV, and Amazon Video.
History
Xbox Live Marketplace's original video store was replaced by Zune Marketplace on September 15, 2009.
At E3 2009, Microsoft announced their 1080p streaming video service, which allows users to stream video over an internet connection. This technology is a key part of Xbox Video for their video streaming service.
With the announcement of Xbox Music services which would replace the Zune Marketplace music service, speculation arose about "Xbox Video", a potential service that would offer movies and television series, because the term "music" in the name of the service gave the impression that Xbox Music will offer strictly music, thus excluding films and television series.
With the launch of Windows 10, Xbox Video appears under the name of Film & TV in the apps, with the shopping for the content merged into the Windows Store as a whole as part of Microsoft's universal apps initiative. However the name and branding of Xbox Video remains active on all the previous platforms and the official website.
On 17 September, with a system update for the Xbox 360, the name of the app changed to reflect the new branding. The Xbox One app had also changed in a previous update.