Microsoft Movies &TV (US only),[1][2]orMicrosoft Films &TV (Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand),[3][4] 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 as well as an app where users can watch and manage videos from their personal digital collections stored locally.[5] The service is available on all Xbox consoles beginning with Xbox 360, and all Microsoft Windows computers beginning with Windows 8.[6] 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 now generally competes more directly with similar online video stores including iTunes Store, Google TV, Amazon Video, and Vudu.
The Microsoft Movies & TV video player app was superseded by Media Player in Windows 10 and Windows 11. The update was rolled out to Windows 10 users between January and June 2023.
AtE3 2009, Microsoft announced their 1080pstreaming video service, which allows users to stream video over an internet connection.[8] 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.[9] However the name and branding of Xbox Video remains active on all the previous platforms and the official website.[10]
On September 17, 2015, with a system update for the Xbox 360, the name of the app changed to reflect the new branding.[11] The Xbox One app had also changed in a previous update.
After previously being linked with Movies Anywhere in the past, Microsoft Movies & TV announced that they would be rejoining the service on August 6, 2018.[12]
On August 17, 2023, Microsoft announced that the Microsoft Movies & TV app on Xbox 360 will no longer function as of July 29, 2024.[citation needed]
