Microsoft’s Xbox TV era ends in May with deletion of OneGuide TV listings

Microsoft is removing its TV ads feature from the Xbox One in May. Originally introduced as part of its grand ambitions to conquer the living room, OneGuide TV listings on Xbox One were designed to overlap on top of your cable box and provide a better way to access content. You can also combine this feature with an Xbox USB TV tuner to access free TV channels.

“Based on usage and customer feedback, we are constantly evolving the Xbox experience,” says Jonathan Hildebrandt, program manager for Microsoft’s Xbox Experiences group. “To that end, starting in May, we will be ending live television programming for OneGuide on Xbox One.” OneGuide users will still be able to access the HDMI relay feature on the Xbox One to watch connected devices, or even access a TV tuner, but the TV listings will be removed.

It’s the final nail in the coffin of Microsoft’s original dream of turning the Xbox One into a modern digital entertainment hub or cable TV box. Kinect and an HDMI relay were at the heart of that plan, but the $ 100 price gap between the Xbox One and the PS4, bulkier VCR-like hardware with less performance and the emphasis on entertainment blurred. waters on what was primarily a gaming console.

Microsoft has gradually downgraded its efforts on Xbox TV in recent years with the removal of Kinect, the demise of the Xbox One snap mode, the demise of media features, and the removal of the Xbox TV DVR feature. The Xbox One looked like a cord cutter dream, but that quickly wore off for only a few years in the console’s existence. Microsoft’s latest Xbox Series X / S consoles no longer include an HDMI relay or the company’s OneGuide app.