Microsoft to close down MSN TV

Microsoft has decided to close its largely forgotten internet television service MSN TV on 30 September.
Microsoft bought Web TV at the height of the dotcom bubble and tried to use it as a way to deliver television and internet connectivity to users through an expensive set top box. The firm announced that it will finally discontinue the subscription service, noting that there are many other ways of accessing the internet rather than through a set top box.
Back in the late 1990s, Microsoft harboured ambitions of getting into television, perhaps most notably through its partnership with NBC to set up MSNBC. However the firm's dreams never really materialised into anything truly profitable and it is clear that MSN TV's set top box doesn't fit in well with Microsoft's next bid to become a big player in entertainment, the Xbox One.
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