Microsoft has been a frenemy to the pay-TV industry for a long, long time. So now that the company is taking over TV interfaces with its Xbox One HDMI pass-through feature, I thought it worth looking back over the company’s (sometimes torturous) history with pay-TV providers. (Note: Nothing on Media Center PCs or WebTV here. That’s another story.)

Timeline

2003 – Microsoft TV Foundation Edition Launches in June at the National Show

Microsoft’s software platform for the cable industry includes an interactive program guide that operators can use to create “On-Demand Storefronts”

2004 – Microsoft and Comcast do a deal to bring the Foundation software to subscribers in Washington state

Microsoft gets its big break in the cable industry



2006 – AT&T launches U-verse IPTV service with Microsoft inside

U-verse is the first major IPTV service in the U.S., and it runs on Microsoft code

2006 – Microsoft announces the Xbox Video Marketplace

New video store cements the Xbox as a Trojan Horse in the living room

2007 – Comcast gives up on Microsoft’s Foundation software

Microsoft’s short (and not sweet) dance with Comcast ends

2007 – Microsoft announces the Mediaroom IPTV platform in June

Just after the Comcast announcement, Microsoft unveils its newly-branded IPTV middleware

2009 – Microsoft streams live BSkyB TV on the Xbox

Microsoft gets live TV on the Xbox… in the U.K.

2010 – AT&T introduces the option to use Xbox as a U-verse set-top

After nearly four years of promises, Microsoft makes good on set-top plans

2011 – Microsoft announces deals to bring Comcast and Verizon apps to the Xbox

Comcast and Verizon decide IP is the way to go in retail

2013 – Microsoft sells off Mediaroom to Ericsson

The Mediaroom era ends as Microsoft turns full attention to the Xbox

2013 – Microsoft introduces the Xbox One

Microsoft takes control of the TV interface with an HDMI pass-through feature that allows it to overlay its own UI on a cable video feed (So much for the CableCARD?)