What will you watch on Xbox One? The answer's on its way

The Xbox One launch made a lot of noise about TV, and if you're wondering exactly what that means for UK console owners, the wait for news shouldn't be too long, with Microsoft's Harvey Eagle telling TechRadar that details will be arriving in the coming weeks.

Although the Xbox One's declared aim is to "own your living room", the UK's complex television landscape means that the majority of UK gamers will not be wondering just how nicely it will play with their cable, YouView, Freeview or satellite box.

Xbox's UK Marketing Director Eagle told TechRadar that the company was working hard on partnerships, with TechRadar asking specifically about BT, Sky and the BBC.

Coming weeks

He said: "We didn't announce specifics of partnerships but it's something we have been working on in the background and in the coming weeks you'll hear us confirm more about those partnerships.

"As you say we've had great partnerships with some of those you have mentioned, [and] we're obviously working on that for Xbox One."

As TechRadar has revealed already, Sky's pay-per-view service Now TV considers the next-gen consoles central to its plans, and BT is actively seeking a partnership for its content.

Owning the living room

TechRadar also asked if it was even possible to "own" the UK living room, and Eagle - after stating that it wasn't for him to say who the Xbox One was competing with - explained his reasoning.

He said: "What we are trying to be is the best device for the living room, typically where you have the biggest screen. We want to have the box that sits under the biggest screen in the house that delivers the best experience.

"Whether that's playing games, watching TV or other entertainment, it's all about maximising experience on a bigger screen than owning the living room."

Compatibility

Besides the always-on issue, the inevitable hot potato was around the lack of backwards compatibility, especially on Xbox Live games.

"Look, its always a topic when people have invested a lot in content and are then restricted from being able to use that content on something else," said Eagle. "The simple fact is that the Xbox One has entirely different architecture so there are limitations to porting gaming content over and making it work.

"We have to expect that it is for tech reasons, rather than a willful regard from Microsoft. There is some content that will port. Things like music and movies will work [on the Xbox One] because technically we are able to do that. It's just architecture of the way games are built that make it impossible to do that with them as well."