Xbox Live Expands Video Roster

Microsoft has adding new content from Paramount, Warner Bros., A&E, ADV Films, National Geographic, and TotalVid to Xbox Live, including high-def content.

Microsoft has announced new expansion to the video offerings carried on its Xbox Live service, bringing new high-definition content from major Hollywood Studios to Xbox 360 owners, as well as new television and DVD content—including material which will debut on Xbox Live at the same time it’s first released on DVD.

New content coming to Xbox Live will be from A&E Network (Dog the Bounty Hunter,King of Cars,Gene Simmons Family Jewels,Driving Force, and Criss Angel Mindfreak), National Geographic (Is It Real? and Taboo,21 Days to Baghdad, and Air Force One), action- and extreme-sports offerings from TotalVid.com, and Japanese anime from ADV Films.

New high-definition content will come from Paramount, including titles like Braveheart,Team America: World Police,World Trade Center, and South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. Hollywood studio Warner Bros. will also be releasing a selection of direct-to-video titles on Xbox Live in high-definition simultaneous with their release on DVD; the first title will be Sublime, followed up later this year with the newly-produced Babylon 5: The Lost Tales.

microsoft claims downloads on Xbox Live had seen double-digit month-on-month growth, with a 400 percent increase in usership since the service made television and movie content available late in 2006.